With states cracking down on so-called pill mills that dispense painkillers willy-nilly, some doctors and patients are complaining it s become too difficult to get legitimate prescriptions for chronic pain. The Wall Street Journal describes a pharmacy crawl in which patients have to go to multiple pharmacies and several towns to get their pain medication.
David Caraway, a pain physician in Huntington, W.Va., told the Journal he s seen patients travel several hours to see him after their family doctors balked at writing painkiller prescriptions out of fear of prosecution. "I'm not sure we've struck the right balance with making an impact on rampant overprescribing of opioid drugs with maintaining patient access. In many cases, the laws are too restrictive," Dr. Caraway said.
It s not clear whether the crackdowns are having much effect on actually fighting painkiller abuse. In Ohio, painkiller use was actually up slightly in 2011 compared to the previous year, while in Texas, pill mills have been circumventing registration requirements for pain clinics by exploiting a loophole in the law and calling themselves wellness or diet centers.
ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom points out another absurdity of the new crackdown: It is far more important for patients to have access to pain control than it is to curtail illegal narcotic use. There are few enough decent options for treating pain now, and making it worse by placing the burden of law enforcement on those who have legitimate needs and their doctors is barbaric.