Greetings,
I read the newspapers and am well aware of the problem of opioid pain medicine. However; the response by law enforcement, government officials, and the medical profession has been Draconian regarding anything labelled a controlled substance. Not all controlled substances are equal and should not be treated as if they are all “bad drugs” used by addicts. I’ve changed primary doctors twice now in the last 3 years. In both cases I’ve been told that the doctor will not prescribe a controlled substance under any situation. I have a severe case of panic attacks. The only drugs that have a proven effectiveness in treating this condition are benzodiazepines. Unfortunately these drugs are classified as schedule 4 controlled substances so I cannot get a primary care physician to prescribe them to me despite the fact that I’ve been taking them daily under a doctor’s supervision for the past 26 years. This leaves me in a bind trying to find a specialist that first accepts my insurance and second is accepting new patients. The drug schedules put forth by the DEA are supposed to list drugs in their category based on potential abuse and physical addictiveness. Ironically, the two doctors who I have seen that claimed they will not prescribe controlled substances have both prescribed me testosterone depot. The DEA lists testosterone depot as a schedule 3 controlled substance. According to the Department of Justice’s DEA web site a schedule 3 controlled substance has a potential for abuse less than those in schedule 1 or 2 and may lead to low or moderate physical dependence. There is absolutely no scientific evidence that testosterone depot causes ANY type of physical dependence. Nevertheless, the minds of our nation’s leaders decided to list it as a schedule 3 controlled substance. I’ve yet to find a case where someone had to enter a drug rehabilitation clinic due to a testosterone depot dependence. Meanwhile, my benzodiazepines that no family doctor will prescribe fall under the schedule 4 of the controlled substances category. According to the DEA the qualifications of a schedule 4 controlled substance “have a low potential for abuse compared to drugs in schedule 3. By the DEA’s own admission, testosterone depot has more potential for abuse than any of the benzodiazepines. This leaves patients with legitimate needs for these prescriptions little recourse. These blanket policies of “zero controlled substance prescriptions” by the medical community are going to become as disastrous as the previous policy of handing out opium based pills and claiming that they are non-addictive. If you contract a virus which causes a nasty cough, good luck getting a doctor to prescribe a cough medicine. These cough medicines are highly effective but they still make the list as a schedule 5 controlled substance. The science on this situation has been completely reversed from the truth. It’s time to scrap this DEA drug schedule and start over.
Best Regards,
Matt
I read the newspapers and am well aware of the problem of opioid pain medicine. However; the response by law enforcement, government officials, and the medical profession has been Draconian regarding anything labelled a controlled substance. Not all controlled substances are equal and should not be treated as if they are all “bad drugs” used by addicts. I’ve changed primary doctors twice now in the last 3 years. In both cases I’ve been told that the doctor will not prescribe a controlled substance under any situation. I have a severe case of panic attacks. The only drugs that have a proven effectiveness in treating this condition are benzodiazepines. Unfortunately these drugs are classified as schedule 4 controlled substances so I cannot get a primary care physician to prescribe them to me despite the fact that I’ve been taking them daily under a doctor’s supervision for the past 26 years. This leaves me in a bind trying to find a specialist that first accepts my insurance and second is accepting new patients. The drug schedules put forth by the DEA are supposed to list drugs in their category based on potential abuse and physical addictiveness. Ironically, the two doctors who I have seen that claimed they will not prescribe controlled substances have both prescribed me testosterone depot. The DEA lists testosterone depot as a schedule 3 controlled substance. According to the Department of Justice’s DEA web site a schedule 3 controlled substance has a potential for abuse less than those in schedule 1 or 2 and may lead to low or moderate physical dependence. There is absolutely no scientific evidence that testosterone depot causes ANY type of physical dependence. Nevertheless, the minds of our nation’s leaders decided to list it as a schedule 3 controlled substance. I’ve yet to find a case where someone had to enter a drug rehabilitation clinic due to a testosterone depot dependence. Meanwhile, my benzodiazepines that no family doctor will prescribe fall under the schedule 4 of the controlled substances category. According to the DEA the qualifications of a schedule 4 controlled substance “have a low potential for abuse compared to drugs in schedule 3. By the DEA’s own admission, testosterone depot has more potential for abuse than any of the benzodiazepines. This leaves patients with legitimate needs for these prescriptions little recourse. These blanket policies of “zero controlled substance prescriptions” by the medical community are going to become as disastrous as the previous policy of handing out opium based pills and claiming that they are non-addictive. If you contract a virus which causes a nasty cough, good luck getting a doctor to prescribe a cough medicine. These cough medicines are highly effective but they still make the list as a schedule 5 controlled substance. The science on this situation has been completely reversed from the truth. It’s time to scrap this DEA drug schedule and start over.
Best Regards,
Matt