Trump blindsides advisers with promised opioid plan
Source: Politico
Officials are scrambling to produce an emergency declaration by next week.
By BRIANNA EHLEY, JOSH DAWSEY and SARAH KARLIN-SMITH 10/20/2017 05:06 AM EDT
President Donald Trump overrode his own advisers when he promised to deliver an emergency declaration next week to combat the nation’s worsening opioid crisis.
“That is a very, very big statement,” he said Monday. “It's a very important step. ... We're going to be doing it in the next week.”
Blindsided officials are now scrambling to develop such a plan, but it is unclear when it will be announced, how or if it will be done, and whether the administration has the permanent leadership to execute it, said two administration officials.
“They are not ready for this,” a public health advocate said of an emergency declaration after talking to Health and Human Services officials enlisted in the effort.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/20/trump-opioid-plan-blindsides-advisers-243974
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it's worked out so well for them before
I used to visit the pain clinic once every 6 months. Then it became once every 4 months. Now it's once every three months. My pain and symptom management clinic is completely across the county in which I live. So I have to drive, if I'm feeling well enough, 40 miles to the pain clinic. Then the Dr. tried to cut my pain medication in half because he's worried about the government guidelines. Not ONCE have I ever taken more medication than prescribed, and every three months I have to pee in a cup for a full screening of other drugs. I've never failed a test, never a hint of impropriety. But the asshole wants to cut my medication in half, and I couldn't do it. I was in so much pain I couldn't sit at my computer, and could only sleep (when I could) in my recliner (it's a good thing it's electric, or I couldn't do that!). I can only get 30 days worth of meds at a time, and some drug store chains are reducing that amount to a ten day supply!
It would be easier for me to get drugs on the street. It really would, because I've been forced to have my nephew get some off the street when my Worker's Comp. claims rep doesn't answer her phone for days to approve the prescription, which I've been forced - by the government - to get approved every month now. 
And nothing, nothing the government has done to "make it tougher to get these deadly opioids" has decreased the supply available on the streets. It sure has made MY so-called life exponentially more difficult, though.
So that's some of my story about getting screwed by the government's new regulations. It hasn't slowed the junkies down one iota, but chronic pain sufferers are sure getting it up the ass!
P.S. Sorry about the screed, but I just have to vent about this every once in a while. I hope your life is a little easier. 
there are no NSAIDS in Methadone. My Drs. took me off Vicodin 18 years ago because of all the Tylenol in them. The Methadone works, but if there was ever a chance I had to quit taking it my risk of death would be highly elevated. I'd have to be hospitalized and closely monitored. That's the down side of Methadone treatment. Like I said, they've made it so difficult to get a prescription filled I dread every month when it comes time to refill.
A little background, I had a spinal fusion for Spondylolisthesis. I had not one, but two vertebrae that had slipped inward due to an accident while driving for my job. They fused L4,L5, S1 with rods, plates, pins and screws. Not a pleasant experience. The operation was experimental and didn't work as anticipated. It's been a living hell ever since. I try to keep upbeat about it, but it wears me down to the point I just want to end it at times. But that would be an absolute LAST resort. I can sit at the computer or lie in my recliner, which is about the only place I'm semi-comfortable, with the wi-fi on. At 67 years there is little to look forward to, but I try to keep a positive attitude about life. I was always a very physically active person, but that's been gone for the past years. Now I have to pursue more cerebral outlets in life. Hey, I still have it better than a lot of folks. At least I had good insurance from work, or I'd be paralyzed in a hospital bed for life. I probably would be alive right now. I pity people with no healthcare insurance, which is why I think the fucking GOP is the most evil entity on the planet. 
That rage is sometimes the only thing that keeps me going.
