Pain Relief Network Sues Washington over Narcotic Prescription Guidelines

The Pain Relief Network has filed suit against the state of Washington over that state's guidelines for narcotic prescription, arguing that the guidelines, which set a cap on the amount of painkillers an individual can be given per day, along with intense regulatory scrutiny on doctors, have discouraged doctors from prescribing such medication.

The complaint, filed in federal court, asks the court to declare that the state guidelines "do not constitute enforceable law of any kind and should be stricken and removed from all state publications of every variety," and seeks other additional relief, including an injunction against enforcement.  The broad thrust of the argument is as follows:

This action arises from official actions on the part of the senior-most Washington State Health Officials that has gravely harmed countless numbers of Washington state citizens. Those officials engaged in overreaching when, while acting under color of their authority as state officials, they knowingly crafted ultra vires public health policy, which they also knowingly passed off as a form of “apparent” law entitled “Interagency Guidelines on Opioid Dosing for non-Cancer Pain” [hereinafter “ Dosing Guidelines”]. These Dosing Guidelines are based on an opiophobic discriminatory animus and are irreconcilable with the statutory mandate for physicians to provide effective treatment for chronic, nonmalignant pain. In crafting and publishing the Dosing Guidelines in contravention of existing law, those senior-most state health officials completely ignored the limits of their own statutory authority as well as their fundamental statutory mission to safeguard the public health. Instead, these officials used their authority as senior state public health officials to create an “appearance of authority” that would effectively overrule current explicit statutory and administrative law with which they disagreed.

Comments

[Peter O'Loughlin]

Whatever the legal situation may be, it may be considered of greater importance for both doctors and patients to be aware of the high potenital for addiction inherent in most pain killing drugs.

It is also a fact that there comes a time when the 'benefits' provided by many pain killing drugs diminish to the point of relative ineffectivenss, as the patient's tolerance for them increases, a sure sign of growing dependency.

There is also the inescapabe truth that many of these drugs are subjected to diversionary abuse and end up being used as street drugs.

The eventual outcome is that pharmaceutical companies increase their profits, genuine patients may not only experience side affects, as wel as dependency together with diminishing benefits, but street users who have no real need for them also form further addictions.

[DrBill]

The above post squarely contradicts what the latest scientific research on prescription pain killers shows. The poster also seems to be unaware that theft, at the level of the manufacturer and wholesaler, is the primary cause of diversion of prescription pain killers to the street.

Most of the pain killers in question are already generic, so the "big pharmaceutical companies" don't realize ANY profit. These companies actually favor the arbitrary restriction Washington State has placed on doctors as it favors drugs that are not yet off patent. One such example would be Celebrex.

The above poster has quite unfortunately bought in to the mindset that is opiophobia.

[beth curtis]

Many people are now denied adequate pain medication because of over zealous legislation. Few legislators have to scientific education to make these judgements. For the most part, their decisions are based on propaganda rather than evidence based science.

[wayne]

To control the pain we must attend to the specialist because we can give him what is appropriate and what we need, for example I take vicodin which is a medicine used to counter severe pain that I have for years, but I prescribed rioja the doctor, I take it in moderation because I read in findrxonline.com which is a medicine that causes anxiety, and we must control it as it can affect your nervous system, and not because it really automediquen could be dangerous.

[pain pill addiction]

Narcotics are natural opioid drugs derived from the Asian poppy Palaver somniferous or semi-synthetic or synthetic substitutes for these drugs.

-jomie-

[Jasmine27]

Pain Relief medication should continuously prescribed. As Dr. Bill said, they just based their decisions through their own propagandas. They don't know anything on the field of medicine. Their world is in politics so better mind their own business.