Will The Feds Ban Your Pain Meds?

What if you were injured and developed severe pain that wouldn't go away?

Would your government let you take the kind of pain medication you need?

If federal officials follow the recommendation of a Food and Drug Administration panel, many of the most effective prescription painkillers—including Vicodin, Percocet, and countless generics—would be banned.

Scott Gardner says that kind of a move would be "intensely cruel."

"I took Vicodin for three years," says Gardner. "I needed it. It got me through a very tough period of my life." The tough period began after a cycling accident shattered the left side of his body. After eight surgeries and countless hours of physical therapy, Gardner's once active life is now filled with limitations.

He suffers from chronic pain that prevents him from sleeping more than a few hours at a time, and yet his pain today is nothing compared to the agonizing days and months following his accident.

"When there's nothing but pain, there's no reason to live," says Gardner. "There were times where the only way I could stay sane and civil was because I could take painkillers."

The fear of addiction and abuse already makes many suspicious of pain medication. Media reports about celebrities like Rush Limbaugh or Matthew Perry suggest that it's common for people to become addicted to medications they once took for legitimate medical conditions. And countless public service announcements remind us of the dangers of prescription drug abuse.

Now the old fear of prescription drug abuse takes a new twist. The FDA panel is targeting drugs like Vicodin and Percocet because they contain acetaminophen, a popular painkiller also found in many over-the-counter drugs. Panel members warn that some Americans ingest too much acetaminophen, and overdoses can lead to liver damage, even death.

But maybe the FDA panel isn't putting this threat into context. After all, mundane threats like falling down stairs claim more lives than acetaminophen overdoses. And it turns out the more common fear—that patients will become addicted to prescription drugs—is also overblown. In fact, the barrage of warnings we hear about prescription drugs obscures an important point—people saddled with severe chronic pain need these painkillers.

Says Gardner, "I think people who haven't dealt with pain don't really know what it's like."

"Don't Get Hurt" is written and produced by Ted Balaker, who also hosts. The director of photography is Alex Manning, the field producer is Paul Detrick and the animation in the piece is from Hawk Jensen.

Approximately five minutes. Go to Reason.tv for downloadable versions of all videos, more links, and other related materials.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• food and drug administration
• fda
• ban
• percocet
• vicodin
• tylenol
• acetaminophen
• opiophobia
• rush limbaugh
• matthew perry
• addiction
• prescription drug abuse
• scott gardner
• frank fisher
• ted balaker
• alex manning
• reason.com
• reason.tv
• reason.org
• reason magazine
• reason foundation
• medicine
• pain medicine
• drug war

[tampabayismyhome]

Americans quality of life has diminished so much because of the Federal government.  We work like slaves for little pay and can't get the medications we desperately need without being called a drug addict. Land of the free my ass we can even choose what we put in are bodies.

[Dimz909]

WEED.

[movadoband]

@moguy200979 the united states was started by a small group of wealthy men, I think that means them...mabye not the rest of us so much.

[moguy200979]

@movadoband Cleaner is better, but our great government is taking control of just about everything and more and more as the years go by. The words "We The People" come to mind for some reason :S Change is not always good in my humble opinion.

[cheesitz007]

Oh yeah, and now he doesn't throw up every time he eats or every other time he drinks anything, that's because of the awful demon that is weed, You know, the deadly horrible drug that destroys people. Apparently holding down your food is somehow harmful. But don't think for a moment the government or doctors will change their behaviour to help people, they aren't in the business to help anything but their wallets.

[cheesitz007]

drugs that do nothing for pain. He went to a new doctor because his old one moved and his new doctor determined he had severe nerve damage on top of everything else. Guess what, now he doesn't even see doctors but maybe once every 4 or 5 months, he gave up on them. Now what does he get for the pain? Just the drugs he is able to get, street drugs. Now he is able to shop for groceries clean his apartment walk around the block and almost raise his arms over his head.That's how well doctors work

[cheesitz007]

grabbed his head and twised it around the day after his surgery, she said he needed to move and work his neck out, it was her at that moment that made it impossible to straighten his neck ever again, her excuse? an old man had the exact same surgery as my brother and was back to work the next day, which is something that has never happened in the entire history of medicine. When they let him out he was almost able to stand up again, they reduced his painkiller prescription to over the counter

[cheesitz007]

4 years a doctor finally admitted my brother will never be any better and started prescribing proven painkillers, then he got in a wreck, broke his neck and arm and skinned the top of his head, the hospital refused to give him the drugs he was prescribed and got rid of the physical therapy he was prescribed (prescribed his insurance would pay for it but not anymore) after surgery on his neck nurses started pushing him to get out, he couldn't move anything but his toes. One bitch nurse

[cheesitz007]

be one of the worst in the country. The nurses stole most of the little medication the doctors gave him and they searched through the bag of stuff we brought him to pass the time every time they thought he was asleep. When he got out (still not walking) they referred him to "thebest pain specialist in the state", which turned out to be one of the least informed doctors in the world who would only give my brother prescriptions for incredibly expensive and incredibly experimental drugs. After

[cheesitz007]

Dude my brotherwas having severe back pains from bone fragments in his spine, after a month his doctor told him she couldn't do anything to ease his pain unless he agreed to a surgery, she claimed 98 percent of the time patients are ready to go right back to work within days. He had the surgery, he couldn't walk for months because of the pain. The hospital kicked him out after a week, he couldn't even roll over by himself, they refered him to "the best rehab in the state" which turned out to