Painkillers being abused by patients and doctors and FDA doesn't really care

The overuse of painkillers in our society is a real epidemic. And yet the FDA does not have the gumption to regulate these extremely toxic and addictive drugs. Patients are taught to ignore their pain and thus continue on doing what they were doing that got them there. And physicians are also abusing the painkillers, impairing their judgment. This is a real epidemic because once again it is a system of palliation that is not interested in getting to the root cause of the pain.

Doctors should do what Hippocrates said in the Hippocratic Oath and 'Do no harm'.


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F.D.A. Panel Opposes Plan to Tighten Use of Painkillers
By BARRY MEIER
Published: July 23, 2010

An advisory committee for the Food and Drug Administration voted overwhelmingly on Friday to reject a plan proposed by the agency to reduce the misuse and abuse of long-acting painkillers like the drug OxyContin.
Members of the panel, which included doctors, pain experts and others, voted 25 to 10 against the F.D.A. plan, saying they did not think it was strong enough to control the use of such prescription narcotics. The F.D.A. usually abides by the advice of its advisory committees.
Most panel members voted against the proposal because it did not contain a requirement that doctors undergo training in the appropriate use of such drugs, F.D.A. officials said.
While long-acting narcotics are critical to pain treatment, drugs like OxyContin, fentanyl and methadone have been associated in recent years with a national epidemic of prescription drug abuse and addiction, as well as thousands of overdose-related deaths.
There are also growing concerns that their misuse by physicians poses risks to patients.
Two years ago, the F.D.A. and the drug industry began working on a plan to try to reduce the misuse and abuse of these medications. The agency held subsequent public meetings at which interest groups like physician groups and patient advocacy organizations expressed their views about what the plan should look like.