F.D.A. Won’t Order Doctors to Get Pain-Drug Training

[Warpy]

2. That's right.

They've already got most physicians leery of prescribing adequate medication to patients who need it. They don't need to add to this. Untreated pain is fatal--people isolate, get depressed, and commit suicide to end it.

Even with the enormous diversion of Oxycontin in Florida, the problem isn't as severe as moralists would have anyone believe. The problem is that it's black market, not that people are on the stuff. The illegality drives the prices up and that causes street crime.

Where they've managed to clean up the Oxy problem, they've already noticed people just swapping over to cheap heroin, usually black tar. This will undoubtedly contribute to more deaths as quality control doesn't exist in the illegal drug biz.

Personally, I'd love to see the drug war ended and the gangs getting rich off the black market out of business. I don't mind stepping over nodding junkies in doorways, they're peaceful and we'd have a more civil society were they not abused by a bunch of bad laws.