The Cops Want Your Drugs

Here's a article about the Sheriffs in N. Carolina wanting to know who's on painkillers: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/09/08/669723/lists-of-pain-pillpatients-sought.html

Okay, that's just the way cops think. Can't blame cops for being cops. However, you can blame the politicians who hold the cop's leash.

The government types always have good reasons for invading your privacy. They want to stop people from getting multiple prescriptions. They want to stop people from selling prescription drugs on the street. Mostly, they want to stick their noses in your private business.

Take the so called privacy form, HIPPA. Everyone who's been to a doctor in the last couple of years has had to sign one.

You know who's exempt from the privacy laws?

Law Enforcement
Judicial and Administrative Proceedings
Specialized Government Agencies

Seems to me like the government has pretty good loophole into your medical stuff as it is. There are plenty of other privacy exemptions: Workman's Compensation, Research, and even Marketing. They can even use your private medical history to try and sell you stuff. Don't believe me? Read the forms.

What the laws have done is make it harder to get treatment. It's a hassle for medical people to talk with each other about your medical history. Seems to me like those are the sort of people you'd like to have access.

My lovely wife is on one of those controlled medications. It's a real pain in the butt to get her prescription filled when traveling. Of course, they won't let her just leave with 3 months worth of meds. Oh no, she has to get it filled every month. So one month we are in Florida and have to get the prescription filled. The Florida pharmacy has to talk with her doctor in New Hampshire. Then he has to fax the information down to Florida. The process takes two or three days. The next time it was filled, we were in Kentucky. Same process all over again.

We get back to New Hampshire and her medicine is about out. It's the start of a long weekend and the pharmacy, along with everyone else, is going to be closed. I get there just in time. However, her account has been canceled. To get the prescription filled on the road, the home pharmacy's account had to be closed. Can't have two accounts open for this drug. Luckily, there was still someone as her doctor's office and he was able to fax over the information. The pharmacist stayed late so he could fill the order.

Here's the thing. Had he not been able to fill the prescription, my wife would had gone through serious withdrawal pains. I wasn't going to let that happen. All I would have to do is pick up a wad of cash at my ATM, and knock on a few doors. Someone would have sold the drugs to me illegally.

-Sixbears