Politicians overdose on dumb legislation

Law-abiding citizens once again find themselves at the mercy of the political denseness of their so-called leaders.

On Jan. 11, Congress passed the SUPPORT Act. In another effort to construct an attractive acronym for a law, it is called the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act.

What loyal American could not support a law named SUPPORT? … even if the name excludes “Patients and Communities?”

The law focuses on problems that Uncle Sam should have been addressing years ago. In 2016 alone, 63,600 medicine overdose deaths were recorded in the U.S.; 42,249 included opiates. But it was not yet a hot political topic, one that could gather press coverage for the politician.

Yet these data clearly show America faced (faces) a major problem with opiate use. This writer favors Uncle Sam bringing his formidable forces to combat what can be characterized as an epidemic. The number of opiate-related deaths now exceeds the number of vehicle-related deaths. Some communities in our land find themselves at the mercy of illegal opiate dealers, some wearing the white jacket of a pharmacist.

I am a user of opiates. Through a program coordinated with my physician, I use them to combat pain associated with injuries I sustained in Vietnam. (And I thank the Veterans Administration for its support of my various maladies.)

The point I wish to make clear in this article is simple: Uncle Sam’s SUPPORT is legislative overkill.

On Wednesday, I met with my personal physician for a periodic checkup. After considerable probing, he declared my ongoing use of a limited dosage of opiates was appropriate and under control. I breathed easier because pain killers allow me the luxury of, yes, breathing easier.

He then informed me he could write a prescription for only seven days of the opiates, after which I had to return to his office to obtain another written prescription of a medicine that I was taking under strict supervision. I had to hand-carry the prescription to the pharmacy, submit my identification, and wait for the results of … what? … an FBI background check?

I joke, but I do not. Because of the SUPPORT Act, each week I must go to my doctor’s office. Each week, he himself must write out a prescription for my medicine. Each week, I must go to my pharmacy to submit the written prescription, along with my ID. The next day — and I am proscribed to submit and retrieve the medicine within a time window — I pick up the medicine. If I miss the window, the prescription is invalid, and I must return to my physician to repeat this process.

At home, while taking this painkiller, I reflect about Uncle Sam’s overkill programs in Vietnam that led to my having three separate disability claims; programs that contributed to my use of painkillers. Thank you, Uncle, especially for spraying me with Agent Orange. No overkill there; just nearkill.

As I write this column, I reflect on the sadness and absurdity that my government does not have the inclination to discern between what my deeply ethical doctor does to help me through the day in contrast to a minority of people who abuse the system. Thus, my doctor, already burdened with massive paperwork requirements from the government, spends yet more time servicing government bureaucrats and politicians, and less time taking care of his patients.

I do not deny that America has an opiate problem. But the recent SUPPORT Act is another instance of government overkill. Uncle Sam ignores serious problems for years that beg for government assistance, if not intervention. It then passes onerous and counterproductive laws. Case studies: current health care dysfunctional acts (the incomprehensible Obamacare legislation); 2008 financial meltdown rules (Dodd-Frank); unnecessary Internet interventions (recent FCC rulings into what actually works!).

Controlling my doctor’s judgment and controlling my self-responsibility is another example of why Americans are growing weary of their supposed legislative leaders. Thus, I go back to my doctor’s office next week to find him filling in government mandated Medicare/Medicaid/SUPPORT forms and prescriptions while his patients wait in queue in his office and the local gas station.

Congress: Go after the culprits in this debacle. Go after the opiate medicine companies that masked what they knew about these drugs. Go after the pharmacies that dispensed profligate amounts of the drug. Go after the doctors who wrote the prescriptions. Don’t go after Uyless Black or his toe-to-the-law physician.

It is all documented, Uncle. Act accordingly, and let us innocent citizens try once again to escape your pervasive dragnet legislature. If your largely ineffective creeping momentum of governmental control were not so inept, it would be comical. But it is not.

So, see you next week, Doc. Thousands of other law-abiding and well-meaning citizens will also see their physicians.

Exxon/Mobil: Keep your gas tanks topped off. Congress representatives: Pat yourselves on your self-serving backs. What could be more American than SUPPORT?

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Uyless Black of Coeur d’Alene is the author of more than 30 books and is a frequent contributor to The Press.