Jefferson Review

	Jefferson Review
	"Your Liberty is Our Interest"	October 28, 2002
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The Drug Problem

By Pat Pending

In Louisville, we have recently been treated to a multipart series in the newspaper about a problem with doctors prescribing legal drugs to people who abuse those drugs. The focus of the articles so far is, first, on blaming the doctors and the pharmacists and, second, on establishing systems for reporting to police when prescriptions are filled for these types of drugs in order to make it easier to prosecute doctors and pharmacists.

In reading these articles, it puzzles me as to why no blame is put on the person who is actually abusing the drugs. The doctor is simply prescribing a legal drug that comes with extensive instructions and warnings. No doubt the drug abuser comes to the doctor complaining of pain and asking for the prescription. The pharmacist, in turn, is simply carrying out the doctor’s orders. But it is the drug abuser, who intentionally abuses the drug, taking it in much larger doses or with much greater frequency than instructed, who is really causing the harm. If he chooses to ignore the warnings by the drug manufacturers and then dies of an overdose, isn’t he the person at fault?

If a person goes to a hardware store and buys a rope and then uses it to form a noose and hangs himself, we don’t sue the hardware store or the manufacturer of the rope, and we certainly don’t put the store owner in jail. (At least not yet.) In the case of drug abuse, the doctors and pharmacists are just like the hardware store owner -- making the drugs (or rope) available to the customer, but not causing the actual harm.

The zeal of legislators to punish doctors and pharmacists for the sins of the drug abusers creates many problems. For example, many people today suffer chronic pain, because their doctors are afraid to prescribe the types of medications that are tracked by law enforcement. If it is a choice between the patient suffering pain or the doctor risking the loss of his license and ability to earn a living in the field in which he was trained, most doctors will opt to let their patients suffer pain. Perhaps, if the legislators had to suffer some of that pain themselves, without the benefit of pain-killing drugs, they might begin to have a different perspective, having more sympathy for the suffering patients and their frightened doctors.

While elected officials like to think they know everything about everything, and while they love to pander to people's emotions concerning drug abuse, the fact is that they can only do harm when they interfere with the doctor/patient relationship, making it more difficult for doctors to exercise good judgment on behalf of their patients.

When we misidentify the cause of a problem, we tend to come up with “solutions” that do not solve the problem and that even make the problem worse. In the case of drugs, the problem clearly is the drug abuser himself. Whether he tricks the doctors and pharmacists into supplying him with more drugs than he really needs for his pain, or whether he finds doctors and pharmacists who are willing to go along with him, it is the drug abuser who is calling the shots and causing the harm.

If we pretend that the problem is caused by the doctors and pharmacists, we give the drug abuser an excuse to avoid facing up to his problem. Why should a druggie take responsibility for his problems when everyone is blaming them on someone else? We know that the drug abuser's problems cannot be solved until he decides he has a problem and resolves to do something about it. So, the more we look for scapegoats and point the finger at everyone but the person who has the power to improve the situation, the more we enable the drug abuser to continue his self-destructive behavior.

Well, you might say, we can’t allow people to destroy themselves with drugs! We have to do something! I have a suggestion. Once we focus on the abuser himself as being the problem, we can begin to take steps that really make a difference. For example, instead of coddling drug abusers, glamorizing drug abuse, and making excuses for the abusers, let’s start by making it socially unacceptable to abuse drugs. Let’s treat drug abusers the way most of society treats smokers! Exercise tough love, and allow reality to sink in. If drug abusers are not motivated by the fear of death from their own choice to abuse drugs, maybe they will be motivated by social rejection or by recognizing the pain they are causing their families, friends, employers, and others around them.

If you think you know how to help drug abusers clean up their acts, and if you want to try to help them, then go for it – or if you find organizations that have proven themselves to be effective, you may choose to help those organizations with your money or time. But don’t pretend you are helping the situation by pointing guns at doctors and pharmacists or by creating reporting schemes that treat sick people as if they were criminals.

In the end, we are all responsible for our own health. If we fail to exercise, or if we eat unhealthy foods or overeat, smoke, abuse drugs, ride motorcycles without helmets, drive without wearing seatbelts, etc., it is our own choice, and we will live (or die) with the results of that choice. The legislatures and police should butt out, not only because it is none of their business, but because their interference really does more harm than good.

Note: Doctors are now the #2 target of the Dept. of Justice http://www.haciendapub.com/orient1.html