REPORTED BY
NORMAN J CLEMENT RPH., DDS, NORMAN L.CLEMENT PHARM-TECH, MALACHI F. MACKANDAL PHARMD, BELINDA BROWN-PARKER, IN THE SPIRIT OF JOSEPH SOLVO ESQ., IN THE SPIRIT OF REV. C.T. VIVIAN, JELANI ZIMBABWE CLEMENT, BS., MBA., IN THE SPIRIT OF THE HON. PATRICE LUMUMBA, IN THE SPIRIT OF ERLIN CLEMENT SR., WALTER F. WRENN III., MD., JULIE KILLINGWORTH, WILLIE GUINYARD BS., JOSEPH WEBSTER MD., MBA, BEVERLY C. PRINCE MD., FACS., RICHARD KAUL, MD., LEROY BAYLOR, JAY K. JOSHI MD., MBA, ADRIENNE EDMUNDSON, ESTER HYATT PH.D., WALTER L. SMITH BS., IN THE SPIRIT OF BRAHM FISHER ESQ., MICHELE ALEXANDER MD., CUDJOE WILDING BS, MARTIN NDJOU, BS., RPH., IN THE SPIRIT OF DEBRA LYNN SHEPHERD, BERES E. MUSCHETT, STRATEGIC ADVISORS
“WE ARE NOT POWERLESS AND THROUGH OUR VIDEOS, WRITINGS, AND PHOTOGRAPHS WE WILL EXPOSE THE ABUSES AND TYRANNY OF UNITED STATES DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY THE BLOG youarewithinthenorms.com BEARS WITNESS AND ALLOWS THE SYSTEM TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE”
BY
WALTER F. WRENN MD
Addiction is a complicated problem. It starts with the belief that addiction is bad and the addicted individual needs protection. One can refuse medical treatment even when the facts indicate that by doing so one will die but does not apply if one chose addiction because one may die from a drug overdose. Therefore the war on drugs was introduced by President Richard Nixon. When we look back on this period however the war on drugs was anti-black legislation.
As far as society was concerned only black people were addicts and their drug of choice was heroin, an illegal substance. The racial nature of this act was ignored and denied even though those arrested were overwhelming people of color. Then white individuals started to die from opiate overdoses. Their drug of choice is opiate pain medications. The war shifted from drugs being illegally brought into this country to medications being prescribed by health care providers.
The DOJ/DEA now had a target they could readily identify and who presented no threat to their lives. They only needed to develop a system to take a legitimate system and criminalize it and tie it into the war on drugs. Since the FDA and CSA gave exclusive rights to prescribe controlled medications to physicians the DOJ/DEA had to invent a new terminology that would criminalize a legitimate medical practice.
They came up with ” Highly addictive ” and “Over-Prescribing “. They also had to invent a violation mechanism so they said that the prescriber prescribed medications that were “not for a professional purpose and not for a legitimate medical reason”. They then convinced the public that pharmaceutical companies who manufactured opiate pain medications and health care providers who prescribed them were the cause of the opiate epidemic even though the problem had never gone away.
Then in 2016 the CDC in an effort to assist PCP’S in their approach to treating patients with opiate pain medications issued guidelines. ( Not Laws or Rules). Again the DOJ/DEA saw this as an opportunity to add additional ammunition to their false narrative.
They established 90 MME as the threshold to safely prescribe opiate pain medication;
- Ignored completely were the physiological action of opiates in the body and the role of opiate receptors in addiction. Ignored was the negative impact on individuals with chronic pain.
- Ignored was the increase in suicide and overdose deaths caused by the arrest and incarceration of innocent health care providers.
- Most of all they Ignored the increase of opiate overdose deaths as a result of the policies of the DOJ/DEA. They made a bad problem worse.
Fortunately, the issue has reached the Supreme Court, and based on questions asked during oral arguments this passing of the blame will be exposed.
However, the tremendous harm done can’t be undone. The lives lost to suicide and death can’t be restored. The destruction of health care providers can’t be undone.
However, unless congressional hearings are held the assault on physicians and the patients they serve will continue.
FOR NOW, YOU ARE WITHIN
THE NORMS
