I just learned that this past April (on my thirtieth birthday, no less!) Rep. Charlie Norwood kindly introduced this article of mine into the Congressional Record.

Unfortunately, he did it in the course of pushing for a national database to monitor the use of prescription drugs, which Rep. Norwood says would help cut down on “doctor shopping.”

I couldn’t disagree more. A national databse would make it easier for the DEA and hardened drug warriors to accumulate evidence against well-meaning doctors, particulary those doctors who engage in the kind of high-dose opioid therapy that the DEA insists is unreasonable, despite the fact that the people determining said policy aren’t doctors, much less pain specialists.

As for “doctor shopping,” it certainly does go on. But the vast majority of it takes place among legitimate pain patients who can’t find a doctor who will prescripe meds in the doses they need for adequate relief. That’s thanks in large part to the DEA and state cops’ overly aggressive diversion policing.

A database will make it easier to monitor doctors. That will make them less likely to prescribe. That will make pain patients more likely to go from doctor to doctor to get what they need. The databse will then nab them for “doctor shopping.” It’s an awful idea on nearly every level.

And I haven’t even the privacy converns, here. What medication I’m taking is, frankly, none of the government’s damned business.

The database bill — which has since been signed into law by President Bush — won’t help pain patients, and will only make the DEA’s war on doctors worse.

I regret that Rep. Norwood invoked my op-ed in support of it.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 10th, 2005 at 12:29 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Pain Treatment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.