Senators Manchin and Braun Are Attempting to Practice Medicine Without a License —And Fighting the Wrong War

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Mike Braun (R-IN) are still trying to address the fentanyl and heroin overdose crisis —soon to be joined by a methamphetamine and cocaine overdose crisis—by denying chronic pain patients access to pain relief. They have just introduced a bill they call The FDA Opioid Labeling Accuracy Act,  which would “prohibit the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from allowing opioids to be labeled for intended use of ‘around-the-clock, long-term opioid treatment’ until a study can be completed on the long-term use of opioids.”Set aside the fact that most pain specialists agree that, in some cases, long-term opioid therapy is all that works for some chronic pain patients. The 2016 guidelines on opioid prescribing put forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have already been misinterpreted and misapplied by legislators and regulators, leading to forced and rapid tapering off of opioids in many chronic pain patients, causing many to resume lives immobilized by pain, and in many cases, seek relief in the black market or by suicide. It has gotten so bad that the CDC recently issued a “clarification” in April, reminding regulators that the guidelines were only meant to be suggestive, not prescriptive, and did not in any way mean to encourage the rapid tapering of patients on chronic opioids for pain management. Johns Hopkins bioethicist Travis Rieder, PhD delves deeply into this subject and relates his own experiences in his ...

Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 12, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs