Many of us are trying to do something about our government. For instance, we elected Al Gore in 2000. Some of us understand the issues and history surrounding opiates. Some of us have scientific training, and we know what opiates are (which, from my understanding of the rules, makes us “suspect” for having “uncommon” knowledge about controlled substances). We also understand opiates have been around longer than physicians, and we also understand some things about the role opiates play in the world economy.

Now that we are being faced with this evil “drug war” force (which I believe comes from commercial pharmaceutical interests), I would like to also ask that we are not abandoned by our physician/gods. We treat you like gods. We give you tremendous amounts of creature comforts and wealth. We never ask why or show contempt for your fortunes. We never question your knowledge. After all, you are our gods. Like we always say, it must be the insurance companies, or the government, or someone else that that is causing the problems. Our physicians would not do this to us.

We didn’t send those cops to get you. They are after us too. They work for huge corporate interests that are controlling huge markets at levels of the economy that very few people in the world know about or understand. After all, we elected Al gore, not George Bush and Alberto Gonzales!

We Americans would be glad to do something, but we don’t know what to do. The reason we don’t know what to do is because we are so far removed from any position of relevance in our own health care that we can not make any defensible arguments to our elected officials about health care, and especially about any particular pharmaceutical. Many of us would do a lot to help ourselves, but we are going to look like criminals and idiots unless we have physicians behind us. We need some support and guidance on what to do, and we need “a note from the doctor” to legitimize us. We clearly don’t have the ability or authority to “call off cops”. They will arrest us, and we will do a lot more time than a doctor would.

There are plenty of us who would be more effective if we had clear help from more doctors in our efforts. Tell us what we can do to get this message out, and also get the message out to physicians to stop sidestepping and start telling the simple truth to patients. There is a responsibility to carry this message at the level of the health provider, also. We need more physicians who will handle consults in something similar to the following way:

“I can not do anything for you, but I wish I could. I am going to tell you the reason I can not do anything for you, so please listen carefully:

You do not meet the requirements under the drug laws, as I understand them, to receive pain medication. The type of pain medication I would give you is a narcotic. It probably would not be dangerous for you to take this medication, and it would help with your pain. However, I do not have enough evidence that you need this medication to avoid possible prosecution for giving it to you. The reason I can not do it is because the laws that have been passed in support of the War on Drugs have gone too far in limiting how physicians treat pain. I could very easily lose my medical license and my career — and perhaps face criminal charges — by writing a prescription for your pain. You should write your congressional representatives and tell them what I have told you. Here is a letter from me explaining the facts I have told you about. I can refer you to a clinic that might be able to help you cope with your pain, but largely you are going to have to come to terms with it, or move to another country where you can obtain reasonable amounts of the medication you need. I am sorry. I feel bad about this, but there is nothing I can do.”

That is what I would expect a god to tell me. Wouldn’t that be more ethical than scribbling “drug seeking behavior” in a chart? What would the physician have to lose?