The drug czar must think we are very dumb, or he must be the most unintelligent, non scientifical person, or he is the most diabolical, genious, to smudge statistics in his favor, exagerating ideas to his favor.

Theres nothing i hate more than seeing people make laws over their religious belief.

First let me start by noting I currently (I use the word currently b/c of what I feel are a ridiculous violation of rights to be free and make my own choices) am a licensed health professional in two very large, populated NE states. When I was a teenager I was struck by a car. At the time with no medical knowledge and being a 15 yr old boy I did not want to lose my leg. I underwent 26 (twenty six) surgeries, spent 6 continuous months hospitalized not to mention the many other future monts and years invested to reach my objective. If I knew then what I do now I would have amputated in a second. But this is not what this is about. One month after my accident the doctors decided to admit me to a hospital better prepared for the severity of my injuries. The admitting doctor listed my various and numerous diagnosises with one that seemed a liitle out of place after 1 month. "Morphine dependence". I did not know this at the time nor would I have understood the significance of it. I say this b/c that first month I was barely conscious (now I know why) and with the severity of pain I certainly undestand why they mainlined morphine (actually it was demerol), but in case you ever wanted to see the report I felt the importance I noting the doctors mistake one of many looking back but again off the subject at hand. What they rarely talk about and never realized untli I had to work with patients in pain did I learn and rember the name "vistaril". This drug upon research is a antihistamine, but for its sedative purposes is used as hyper-additive to increase the effects of say other CNS depressants such as demerol or morphine. I am now 40 y.o., married, father of 4 and "was" until recently a very respected professional with several private offices and many, many patients who I treated for years and came back to me not only for skill and knowledge which is 10% of being successful at anything, but b/c of my personality, my wife calls it my ability to turn on the charm. The funny part is for 25 yrs the only personality I've known that anyone has known was that of one who has and mind you still is taking pain medications and a low dosage of sedative for anxiety associated with chronic pain. But this is where I feel, very strongly, the problem lies. Most Rx pain meds have additives in them, such as tylenol or ibuprofen, which i guess is fine for the patient acutely using it for a week or two status-post surgery or minor trauma, but for those like me with significant orthopedic, neurological and now cardiovascular involvement those additives NOT the opiate base are what causes much more significant health problems ie. liver failure. 12 yrs ago my pain mgmt doctor had me on which is pretty standard in the pain mgmt field a long acting pain killer, what they call a "breakthrough drug", which very simply is again a pain med, but short acting and taken for spikes in pain level. An example of this drug could be your ever famous vicodin or percocets. Lastly would be your low dose sedative which my case over the years has been a interchangeable use of valium or xanax. Seems like alot, and for the traditional sense of the word addiction. Of course I am both physically and psychologically addicted. One of the major problems these short acting drugs caused was a major spike in my liver enyzmes. my liver was not working efficiently and probably too hard to detoxify all the additives in these drugs. Strangely enough about a year before this liver issue a mediacl doctor, very successful, very well respected introduced me to smoking opium. Right, Wrong? For my purposes it ended up after 15 years being the final piece to the puzzle a breakthrough drug that was absorbed and discarded more quickly than any pill on the market without the side effects. But it was illegal, again for my purposes i didn,t care I received it from a safe source, never, ever did I have to put my self in harms way to get it, my liver enyzmes are normal, I lost over 100 lbs and could still afford a few more in the waistline, but hell i'm 40 now. everything good until one morning after doing paper work to correct a financial problem with one of the offices. Understand I had to do this work during non tx hrs since the source of my problems was someone I gave ( not let them buy into, but gave) 1/2 of one of my practices too. Foolish definetly, but I had reasons and all had to do with her passion, committment and loyalty to my office as an employee. Anyway after working this Thursday into Friday morning and even tx'ing a patient for 2 hrs before we opened, I left when my staff arrived but living about 60 miles away I chose to park around the corner on a pretty quiet street and take a nap before trying to drive for the next hour. Well much to my surprise I was awoken by the biggest, fattest, prick of a cop and six others, why a man well dressed, sitting in his infiniti draws the attention of two cop cars ( they said a concerned citizen called b/c they thought I might be dead, o.k. fine I can live with that) ireally don't know. But never the less, I'm well dressed, I'm in a nice car, I'm wearing a 3,000.00 watch and once I woke up after only 2 hrs of sleep in the last 24 I was polite, well versed, explained who I was , why i took a nap. Yet this one sgt just seemed to have a bug up his ass. Asked me to step out of the car and me not even thinking of the drugs in my briefcase b/c of there medicinal use and being so ingrained in my life so long they were just a part of it, like brushing your teeth, take a shower, you might have a cup of coffee or a cigarette, both highly addictive drugs in there own right, I took my meds, even yes the ever so controversial illegal one. Of course once out of the car they searched the car, my bag and found what I guess they were hoping to find. I have never robbed anyone, I've been a good husband and father, oh how my own father would brag about his Doctor son and all his unimportant and so easily attainable (and so easily lost) material items. Now haven spoken to my family in 3 months, I guess he's not bragging anymore. My question is this besides the knowledge of you now knowing, how does it change who i am and who i've been? There only answer is that it is illegal, doesn't matter that the legal ones were killing my liver, doesn't matter that I was completely functional in what conformist society considers normal and functional yet its illegal. My wife and I have been threatened by so called dear friends to call child welfare, again I'm the same guy I was the day before the arrest you just know now how does that make me an evil bad father over night. What I have tried to explain to everyone if anything (and chronic pain pts out there, you'll understand this) the drugs made me a more tolerable, nicer father. When your in severe pain and every last nerve is burnming through your skin the last thing you want to hear is screaming, crying, etc.. Without drugs I was a monster and I made a very adult, conscious choice with medical doctors about the things I was doing. Though no M.D. in his right mine would document that we discussed it and even morally agreed with the decision it was thought through carefully. But nobody cares even the people closest to me that saw first hand what I went through. I've never been much of a political activist, if anything just the opposite I was a registered republican and a truly blind societal conformist. This has really opened my eyes. Besides my wife and kids every body has threathened us and because my wife didn't leave me or b/c I won't enter treatment for my Addiction". Again yes having the medical and common sense of what addiction is I am truly an addict. No argument. Even the D.A. was so detached from the issue, like a robot not probably once looking at a fact offered me 2 yrs outpatient counselling, but I had to be completely drug free, not even the legally prescribed one's are allowed unless you violate and I guess go to jail, i didn't get that far I obviously turned them down. In closing I personally know 100's of what I would consider functional addicts secondary to disease or trauma should they all lose everything also,should everyone in america? It's funny every one of my wife's friends including my own sister smoked through at least part of there pregnancy, for all intensive purposes mainlining nicotine straight through the umbilical cord into there unborn child and they all justified it by saying "the doctor told me stop slowly", well of course he did nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs known to man and and quitting slowly probably did prevent fetal distress and possibly failure. That's how powerful a drug they were feeding there bodies some of them sneaking through the entire pregnancy and wouldn't know one of them had a premie. It was never discussed b/c shit who wants to lay that shit on a women. but hey society get off your high horses for the finger you point at me there are 4 pointing back at you. Just think if only that doctor could have just written a Rx. But then again maybe my eyes would still be closed to

John, N.J.

MY ADDICTION WAS NOT LIKE YOUR , BUT STILL ALONG THE SAME LINES. WELL MAYBE NOT BUT STILL . I HAVE BEEN A METH ADDICT FOR FORTY YEARS AND I WORKED ALL THOSE YEARS. I NEVER WENT OUT AND PUSHED ANY DRUGS BUT I DID SELL TO A FEW OF MY FRIENDS. MOSTTLY BECAUSE I NEW THAT THEY WOULD JUST GO TO SOMEONE EKSE AND GET WHAT THEY WANTED. ONLY WHAT THEY WOULD GET WOULD BE TAINTED WITH SOME OTHER SUBSTANCE THAT WOULD BE A LOT WORSE FOR THEM THAN WHAT THEY GOT FROM ME. I KNOW THIS IS TRUE BECAUSE A FRIEND OF MINE WHO GOT HER DRUGS FROM SOMEBODY ELSE DIED FROM A ILLNESS THAT WAS CAUSED FROM THE CUT THAT THEY PUT IN IT TO MAKE IT SEEM LIKE THEY WERE GETTING MORE FOR THERE MONEY. ANY WAY THE POINT IS THAT THE STUFF THAT THEY PUT IN IT WERE A LEGAL AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENED TO HER, MOST OF THE LEGAL DRUGS ARE AS BAD IF NOT WORSE THAN ANY OF THE ILLEGAL ONES PUT THEM OUT TO KEEP US DEPEND ON THEM SO THAT THEY CAN MAKE ALL THAT MONEY.BY KEEPING US SICK

FRANCIS CA.