CHRONIC-PAIN SUFFERERS DESERVE TREATMENT WITH DIGNITY

Pain. We all experience it at some time in our life to varying
degrees and for varying periods of time. Caused by injury or illness,
it is nature's way of telling us that something is wrong. In a
majority of cases, modern medicine does an excellent job of relieving
our pain. Through treatment of the cause of the pain or simply
controlling the pain that is not easily treatable, most patients
receive relief from their pain.

Doctors, left to their own resources, do an excellent job of
improving the quality of life of their patients. Even those patients
suffering from chronic pain are able to live a normal life if
properly treated. Some of the time, that proper treatment includes
narcotic pain medication. Prescribed and taken properly, narcotics
provide the only relief for some chronic pain victims. Spinal
injuries, deformities and degeneration are some examples that respond
well to narcotic therapy. Many times they are the only choice that
will provide relief.

It is estimated that 2 percent of Americans are addicted to drugs.
This number has not changed over the last 100 years. The "War on
Drugs" has not changed this number, in spite of spending almost a
trillion dollars in trying to change it. Some of this 2 percent are
addicted to narcotics. Narcotics that are stolen - acquired through
break-ins or robberies. Some are even acquired through patients
scamming their doctors for a prescription - and then selling the
pills on the street. People who suffer from chronic pain would never
sell their prescription - those pills are their only chance for a
normal life. The kind of life that most of us take for granted. Life
can be hard enough without chronic pain. For those suffering from it,
life can become almost unbearable.

In our zeal to control the flow of illegal drugs, we have made the
relief of pain almost impossible for the average doctor. The Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) tracks all narcotic prescriptions,
and has developed guidelines for the dispensing of narcotics. If a
doctor exceeds those guidelines, an inquiry is launched. In essence,
the DEA decides what the doctor should prescribe, to whom, and in
what quantities. With the full weight of the U.S. government behind
it, the DEA can be quite intimidating to even the most
well-intentioned and dedicated doctor. One would assume that the
doctor would have the final say in the treatment of his or her
patients, but that isn't always so. Pressure from DEA guidelines
sometimes squeezes the doctor to the point that the patient is left
out of the treatment process altogether. The needs of the patients,
in essence, take a back seat to the guidelines and restrictions of
government. With the doctors caught in the middle.

This scenario is only one of the unintended consequences of the War
on Drugs. Intended as an attempt to control the 2 percent of the
population who are drug addicts, these efforts also deprive the 98
percent who are not addicts of sometimes desperately needed
medications. A person who is honestly in pain is treated the same as
an addict. They are denied the relief that can make their life
bearable and enjoyable again.

In case you are curious as to the reason that I seem to be familiar
with this subject, it is because for the last year or so I have lived
this scenario. I suffer from a degenerative condition of the spine. I
live in virtually constant pain. Although it is seldom excruciating,
it is always present. Day after day, I have been forced to live with
it. Efforts to find relief have not only been unsuccessful, they
have, at times, been insulting. I have been treated like a drug
addict. Like I was lying about my pain to get prescription narcotics
that I was going to sell on the street. Never mind the fact that I
have never been in trouble with the law, always had a job, always
paid my taxes and have done volunteer work for most of my life. All
of that didn't seem to matter. Once I requested narcotics - the only
thing that will relieve my pain - I was branded a drug addict, and
treated accordingly. I don't deserve such treatment - no law-abiding
citizen deserves that.

As I told my story to various people, I was shocked to learn that
many Americans are in the same situation as myself. Story after story
sounded strangely familiar until I came to the realization that
something has to change. In our efforts to control the 2 percent of
our population, we are denying the 98 percent the relief that they
not only need, but deserve. No one in America should have to live
with chronic pain. It is a basic right of a free people to make their
own decisions about the quality of their life. If that quality of
life includes taking narcotic pain relievers every day for the rest
of their life, it is their life - who is the government to deny them
the relief that they so desperately need?

Chronic pain brings with it depression and anxiety that can force its
victim into a downward spiral that sometimes ends in the ultimate
solution - suicide. I wonder if we, as a people, are willing to
tolerate that to try and control the addicted 2 percent?