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| Home Front: Tech |
| 6.2 Million More Americans About To Get Arrested |
| 2005-08-13 |
| President Bush signed into law a bill to create electronic monitoring programs to prevent the abuse of prescription drugs in all 50 states. The new law creates a grant program for states to create databases and enhance existing ones in hopes of ending the practice of "doctor shopping" by drug abusers seeking multiple prescriptions. It would authorize $60 million for the program through fiscal 2010... A July letter from the American Medical Association in support of the bill called prescription drug abuse "one of the fastest growing public health problems" in the United States. The letter cited a 2002 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration survey that estimated there were 6.2 million recreational prescription drugs users then. The bill passed the House by voice vote and the Senate by unanimous consent in July... I'm sure this will stop Oxycontin junkies, who may have spent the time, effort and energy to shop 20 different doctors, from getting their heroin-class addictive substance. Fancy that, a middle-class and wealthy-person prohibition! |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #11 Frank G. - Add that no money confiscated from me for taxes EVER goes to a drug addict (or drunk, for that matter) and I'm in. They can do whatever they want to themselves, but I shouldn't have to pay one thin dime for them. Not welfare, no "disability" (addiction is not a disability, it's addiction). Let 'em live in the gutter they chose for themselves. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-08-13 21:07 |
| #10 money wasted. Libertarian here as far as War on drugs. Tax it, sell it, no tolerance on driving/public usage. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-08-13 19:40 |
| #9 Most of you people have no clue. These people will still abuse these drugs. They will just find a different way to aquire them. What this really means is that Doctors will stop writing prescriptions for drugs from this schedule. California already has this and I can't find a Dr who will write a prescription for a certain drug that is "controled" that works for a condition I have. Therefore I suffer from this easily treated problem. Doctors are afraid they will get fined, have their license to practice removed or be sent to jail if they make even the slightest mistake. When the government starts paying for my drugs and the doctors treatment of me they can take a look at my medical data. By the way the government will end up sharing this info with your employeer and insurance company someday too count on it. This information is none of the governments business. If they need it then they can get a warrant, Judges hand them out as if they were candy anyhow. Have you ever heard of an application for a warrant being turned down? You haven't because it doesn't happen. This whole thing is screwed up. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom 2005-08-13 19:28 |
| #8 We have the same problem in Australia of doctor shopping for prescriptions drugs and a nationwide centralized system of recording all prescriptions filled. While the government makes noises about stopping the abuses, in practice it does nothing, becuase of a combination of medical politics and 'privacy concerns'. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-08-13 18:13 |
| #7 At least the dealers these junkies buy from don't have turf wars that kill innocent people I hear oxycontin wars have broken out in a few places. |
| Posted by: too true 2005-08-13 18:11 |
| #6 At least the dealers these junkies buy from don't have turf wars that kill innocent people. Now let's have DEA break into some of the upper class houses to bag the dopers the way they do in the slums. Sounds like a good first step to drug legalization to me. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-08-13 18:07 |
| #5 Actually, all told, it's about time. Some of these drugs are both widely available and horribly abused. Most popular with the age 40 and up crowd, they cover the political spectrum, and are as popular for abuse in the red states, too. They are starting to have a real impact on society. The eventual solution is already in the works, with additives that can be added to the pills that beyond a certain dose, neutralize the effect of the drug. That means that you could swallow a handful and still not get any more effect than from a single pill. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-08-13 18:05 |
| #4 More job security for prison industry |
| Posted by: Fun Dung Poo 2005-08-13 17:45 |
| #3 Yep, time to get them out of their Hollywood, Belair, and Beverly Hills [re: Blue zone] enclaves and mix with the common folk. Soon to mix with the same common folk at the booking station. |
| Posted by: Elmavirong Greating7173 2005-08-13 16:09 |
| #2 great idea. So much better for America to have them cruising the neighborhoods to get their drugs on the street corners. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-08-13 14:43 |
| #1 Fancy that, a middle-class and wealthy-person prohibition! Wow! That's never happened before! |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-08-13 13:44 |