The headline reads, “Leaders say
new drug law working.” I'm left asking the question, “Working for whom?” The
drug abusers? The drug dealers?
Our “leaders” brag that doctors
prescribed 7.5% less Hydrocodone from August 2011 to August 2012. Oxycodone
prescriptions sank 6.4%, Alprozolam 9%, and Oxymorphone plummeted 38% during
this same period. They brag that 33 physicians were disciplined by prescription
violations in the past 6 months. Up from 18 in all of 2011. These numbers may
look attractive on the surface, but underneath, there is another tale to tell.
A friend of mine,
a Louisville senior citizen who lives in constant pain, has a doctor who is now
scared to prescribe any pain killers at all, for fear of prosecution. This
senior citizen lives on a fixed income and barely gets by paying for his
monthly prescriptions as it is, and now he doesn't know how he'll even get the
medication he needs. For the first time in his life, he is struggling with the
thought of buying them on the black market, though he doesn’t really know how
he will pay for them.
The drug dealers don't mind that
doctors are scared. As the supply of legal pain killer prescriptions from physicians
dwindles, the demand for their illegal supply grows. In the past few months,
the cost of one illegal pain killer has gone from 4 dollars to 8 dollars per
pill. That's a 100% profit increase for the drug dealers in a matter of months.
But it's a profit gained from the fear this law has instilled in honest,
dedicated, and highly-trained physicians.
Another scary story involves the
the tracking of a real life drug dealer who lives and distributes illegal drugs
right in my State Senate District 37. He sells illegal pain killers that get
brought in from out of state. This particular drug dealer serves some prominent
individuals, like my Senate opponent. For those who don't know, my opponent is
an open and proud illegal-drug user. An illegal-drug user that our Kentucky
“leaders” proudly support. They look the other way when asked about their
support of their open and proud illegal-drug using colleague, much as they look
the other way when presented the facts about the local drug dealers.
Our “Leaders” are looking the other
way while honest physicians are scared to do their jobs and honest senior
citizens are living in constant pain. These hard-working, law-abiding, lifelong
Louisvillians are paying the price while the drug dealers are racking up profits.
These Kentucky “Leaders” are not
the leaders I want for our community. They should have zero tolerance for a
proud, illegal-drug using politician, and they should end the witch-hunt on
doctors trying to do exactly what they were trained to do. Then they should go
after the true criminals, the illegal drug dealers, like ones our current State
Senator gets his supply from.
About Author: ChrisThieneman is a former professional football player and the CEO of Thieneman Real Estate, LLC a leading residential and commercial building and development company in Louisville. Chris Thieneman played football at the University of Louisville, where he was an honorable mention All-American.
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