Legal But Potentially Deadly!

by Ned Wicker
Editor: Drug-Addiction-Support.org

When people think about drug overdoses, they immediately think about illegal drugs, but the recent news about the untimely death of actor Heath Ledger certainly illustrates what can happen when legal drugs are abused.

Here’s what the New York Medical Examiner found:

Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, Diazepam, Temazepam, Alprazolam, and Doxylamine

The point is legal drugs, in my opinion, pose an even greater threat than illegal drugs for the simple fact that they are legal. Look at the cocktail that Ledger created. Was his use for recreation? Did he NEED all that medicine just to get through a day? How many doctors were involved in prescribing these medications? Did he get them by placing an online order from a Canadian pharmacy? Recently I was watching a Democratic Presidential Debate and found Hillary Clinton’s idea of a national database to be interesting. It’s a much needed control over the distribution of legal drugs for recreational purposes because the national database would allow physicians access to medical records. If Ledger were getting drugs from several doctors, perhaps the national database would have spotted that.

Legal drugs are a problem because they are used outside of their intended purpose. It’s time to put in control measures.

There needs to be a balance

There has to be a balance between patient need and patient demand. A patient may need more drug to manage pain over time, but will not be addicted. The patient’s condition needs to be monitored and medical decisions need to be based on that information.

But if a patient is seeing several physicians who do not know about each other, and receives prescriptions that lead to an overdose, the arbiter of this scenario is probably going to be a district attorney.

A national database could help

A national database on prescriptions will be the first tool in instituting tighter regulations on the distribution of legal drugs. You can argue the right to privacy of medical records, but I would submit that when a patient seeks additional prescriptions which are in direct conflict with accepted medical practice, to use the drugs for other than their intended purpose, or to in any way involve a third party in an unethical or illegal act (i.e. the pharmacist) that is cause for a more public reaction.

Regardless of the circumstances of their addiction, the patient is not in a position to make an ethical or moral decision. In the vast majority of cases, physicians are the ones who should have the say on what is prescribed, but have access to complete and reliable information, not just the word of the patient.

Those few physicians who violate the trust we place in them and cross over the line, do not deserve to practice medicine and the medical community needs to deal with that. Otherwise we will have lawyers practicing medicine.

Pharmaceutical companies need to be part of solution

Drug abuse is abundant in our country. If nothing else, just take the ads of TV. Pharmaceutical companies do great good in developing medicines to fight against so many diseases. That is to be respected, but when the fight for the good of mankind becomes more business than science, the ethical and moral issues pollute the cause.