Blogging for Freedom

I received this letter today from a proud United States veteran.

"Hello All,
My name is Russell and I am a 100% disabled veteran. I have been disabled since 2000 from failed back surgery, degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis central and foraminal and many secondary to all the above. I have been on morphine for chronic pain for several years. The veterans hospital gave me a urine test on 9/12/06 and found marijuana, the doctor immediately discharged me from the pain clinic and said I would no longer receive any more narcotics.

It is a sad day in the United States when a man has fought for his country and suffered the kind of pain I have for 30 years. The things I listed above are intractable and will never do anything but continue to get worse. The doctor refused to raise my dosage of pain medicine for over 7 months, then when I do
something to ease the pain even a little I get kicked to the curb. It is ludicrous to put a man on morphine, refuse to raise his dose and then kick him out of the program when he finds a little pot. Now he is saying I am a substance abuser and the only way they will treat me is if I go through therapy. Therapy consist of 30 days getting clean so they can put you on methadone. I guess the pain will just go away for those 30 days the way they see it. This is crazy, we have no rights in this country and it is a damn shame."

 

New DEA regulations have been put in place specifically to create more hurdles for both docs and patients who try to treat pain with medical marijuana. By demanding that patients be expelled from all treatment if they also use medical marijuana, by depriving them of their pharmaceutical medication if they test positive in mandatory drug-screening urinalysis for cannabis, the federal government is making it almost impossible for chronic pain sufferers to obtain a medical marijuana recommendation.

It's also an effective way to punish anyone who dares to use the demon weed, no matter what the reason for.  In order to comply with the Feds, the only way back into a pain management program is to go through treatment for substance abuse.  Oh yeah, that's great .... every seriously ill or dying patient needs to have a mandated 30-day drug abuse treatment in their medical records.

The fact that the federal government is now forcing docs to require random pee tests from their patients is also disturbing. Basically, patients are presumed guilty of drug abuse until clean urine proves them innocent. The DEA is using the criminal justice system to intimidate and threaten us, so that we'll submit, give up the fight. The federal government is using fear and endless regulations to subvert state MMJ initiatives which, by the way, is a fascist approach to governance.

Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.