But not every medical professional holds the proper treatment of pain patients as a top priority. Dr. Katherine Hamic, for example, addressed the panel at AEI by asking “Is there a crisis?” This physician then expressed “The simple point is that there would be no prescribing of this pain medication (OxyContin) if it where not for licensed physicians writing that prescription.” She goes on to intonate that American doctors are over treating pain. To illustrate her point she notes that hospitals all over the country have signs on the bathroom walls for the nurse to see stating “Be a Hero, Reduce Pain to Zero!” She notes “There are legislative panels that prescribe the use of these narcotic medications for benign-pain….(and these) pain management doctors profit greatly from this sort of orientation.” It is statements like this that could lead the concern over OxyContin to create dangerous public healthcare policy that could leave millions of American in agony.
In the words of LEAA’s Federal Director “It’s not that complicated.” Ms. Griffith went on to tell us “…there is a drug problem in this country, but we need to be careful to focus on the right issues here. It’s not hard.” And we agree, we need to separate the law enforcement problem from the health care problem associated with OxyContin and other drugs to protect patients’ rights to reasonable pain management regardless of the disease driving the pain.
It also appears the Department of Justice seams to agree, this past week on March 20, 2002, Asa Hutchinson, Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration, testified before the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary and Related Agencies on the President’s FY 2003 Budget Proposal for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). In his report to Congress he addressed the OxyContin issue. In his budget he requests $24.6 million and 133 positions (including 75 Diversion Investigators) to strengthen its enforcement capabilities to prevent, detect, and investigate the diversion of controlled substances, particularly OxyContin®. Later in his testimony Mr. Hutchinson when on to say, “DEA is taking a measured, reasonable approach to dealing with OxyContin® and other drugs of abuse, and is committed to ensuring that there are adequate supplies of pain medications for those with legitimate needs while we strive to protect the public from the consequences of abuse.” It is good to see the DEA recognizes the important role pain management plays in the American medical community and patient population, based on responses like this from the Administration we are hopeful that access to reasonable pain care will be improved, as will enforcement against those who abuse legitimate pain medications.
MAGNUM will continue to follow this issue closely and will report the concerns of pain patients to the Congress and media with the hope that patients with Migraine, or those who are otherwise debilitated by pain, can feel confident that no new government health policies will be created to lower even further their quality of life.
For more information on this and Migraine issues, visit MAGNUM’s award-winning website www.migraines.org. For further information on Migraine and headache disorders also visit the American Council for Headache Education (ACHE) at www.achenet.org, and the World Headache Alliance at www.wha.ws.
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