"We're here from the government, and we're going to cause you a lot of pain." That's the consequence, surely unintended, for the crackdown on opioid pain medicine for the other problem, addiction to the pain meds.
It's mostly anecdotal, but the evidence is piling up that people are suffering. See, for example, Chronic pain patients report struggles under tighter opioid regulations and Chronic pain patients say opioid crackdown is hurting them.
Take a look at 2017 CDC Survey results for the flavor of comments pain patients have about the new rules. Here are a few chart captures:
Doctors who have run afoul of the rules have to jump through several hoops in order to practice again. In that regard, note the difficulty some people say they have finding a doctor who will prescribe pain meds
Right here in Midland, Texas, patients of Dr. D'Agastino were left in a lurch when his practice was shut down due to inadequate patient monitoring and prescribing to patients whose urinalyses returned positive for marijuana. He entered into an agreed order which you can find by searching for his name at the Texas Medical Board website. He agreed to attend classes, pay a fine, and allow another physician to monitor his practice for a period of time. Hopefully, he will be back in practice soon, and his patients can get some relief from their pain.
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2:38 PM 5/11/2019
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