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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCDC tells doctors to stop testing patients for marijuana
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an updated set of guidelines for prescribing opioids to patients suffering from chronic pain. Buried inside the language of this attempt to put a leash on the prescription painkiller epidemic, the CDC urged doctors to modify their drug screening policies in an effort to prevent those testing positive for THC metabolites from being disqualified from treatment.
Although the agency wrote that it still believes urine testing is necessary to discover any undisclosed use of illicit substances, it specifically states that this rule no longer applies to THC.
Clinicians should not test for substances for which results would not affect patient management or for which implications for patient management are unclear, reads the statement. For example, experts noted that there might be uncertainty about the clinical implications of a positive urine drug test for tetrahydrocannabinols (THC).
Snip
http://mashable.com/2016/03/23/government-testing-patients-marijuana/#ylN4PifgQuqy
longship
(40,416 posts)In a population being tested, when the accuracy of a test is not 100% (hint: none are), it is highly likely when a minority are actually positive that the false positives will overwhelm the false negatives.
That is why drug screening just does not work. Statistics 101.
Warpy
(111,261 posts)since pot is something people in pain use if they can get it, both before some doctor takes their pain seriously and later as an adjunct to the prescription pain killers. Maybe they also realize how completely nonspecific THC testing is since it can be positive weeks after the last cannibis was used.
I wish we'd stop this incredibly slow inchmeal progress and just legalize it. I also wish the revelations about Nixon and his war on drugs would contribute to ending prohibition forever as the wasteful boondoggle and affront to citizens it has always been.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)WTF????!!!!!!
Doctors doing urine tests for any use of illicit substances???????????
If a patient is not discussing those substances with their doc, there is no reason for any doc to act like a cop.
volstork
(5,401 posts)To determine if a patient, particularly one presenting to the Emergency Department, has mind-altering substances on board. Treatment may need to be significantly modified if a patient already has drugs in their system. It is also crucial to know if a laboring woman (especially one with limited or no prenatal care) has drugs in her system; this knowledge will guide treatment of a potentially addicted newborn.
Doctors are not "acting like cops;" the testing has a medical purpose so that the most appropriate treatment can be carried out for the patient.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)if it is done as part of getting your prescription at the Dr. office, my point still stands.
Tennessee tried out a law, the Fetal Assault Law, which would result in teh arrest of mothers/pregnant women who tested positive for drugs.
The docs had to test any pregnant woman.
As a result, many mothers stopped seeing docs for pre-natal care, and chose home delivery.
Increased infant problems were the result.
Tennessee just announced they were getting rid of the law.
volstork
(5,401 posts)I am an MD in TN. I do not routinely test my patients, nor do I intend to.
It was a BS law, which is par for the course for our batshit crazy legislature in this state.
Dustlawyer
(10,495 posts)When she was on maternity leave her substitute tested me each month, three months in a row. I am allergic to almost every non-narcotic pain reliever, Lyric being a partial exception. My hands swell at higher doses, so they cut me back.
The crap you have to put up with for chronic pain relief is ridiculous! Pill heads don't seem to have a problem finding a pill Doctor, but the crack down means a lot of people have to hurt a lot more. My elderly mother and my father-in-law both had surgery and were given only Tramodol, a mild pain reliever. They both really suffered.
Texas government has their heads so far up law enforcement's ass (they vote) we will be the last state to approve even medical marijuana.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)The purpose of the opioid test is to make sure YOU are taking it, not selling it.
My concern is whether they are also doing tests for other substances that is none of their medical business.
Dustlawyer
(10,495 posts)Now they ONLY test for illegal substances! I have never failed one test, take only the medication prescribed as prescribed, yet the insurance company's pay the doctors extra to test their patients. Just another way for insurance companies to dump sick people, regardless of the resultant suffering they cause.
Where is the AMA? Where are the Progressives? I know Bernie is for legalization and Universal Health Care which should solve some problems if he gets elected. Otherwise, this is another prime example of life under corporate rule!
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Prisons For Profits. And she even would deny the use of marijuana to help the suffering. I see an empathy problem.
Hekate
(90,690 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)She hasn't as long as I can remember. Maybe she triangulated but I doubt it. And I did see something recently where she said medical marijuana needed more study. The Conservatives really don't like marijuana, the drug of the lower classes. Obama spent more manpower arresting and prosecuting medical marijuana dispensers than Wall Street.
some guy
(3,448 posts)I took this from her candidacy web page. I do not support her candidacy, so it's whatever it's worth. (I'm in Colorado having a snow day)
I support legal cannabis, and currently have on hand about 1/4ounce -yay Colorado.
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/criminal-justice-reform/
Focus federal enforcement resources on violent crime, not simple marijuana possession. Marijuana arrests, including for simple possession, account for a huge number of drug arrests. Further, significant racial disparities exist in marijuana enforcement, with black men significantly more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than their white counterparts, even though usage rates are similar. Hillary believes we need an approach to marijuana that includes:
Allowing states that have enacted marijuana laws to act as laboratories of democracy, as long as they adhere to certain federal priorities such as not selling to minors, preventing intoxicated driving, and keeping organized crime out of the industry.
Rescheduling marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule II substance. Hillary supports medical marijuana and would reschedule marijuana to advance research into its health benefits.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)that she supports the legalization of marijuana use. She goes way out of her way to not say that. She says "we need an approach" yada yada yada. We don't need an approach, we need straight talk. She would be ok to let allow the states to act as "laboratories of democracy", what does that even mean. She hints that she would favor the federal government leaving states alone as long as they didn't violate some arbitrary guidelines that could be changed and enforced any time wanted. For example, who gets to decide if organized crime is involved or not? Her half-assed stand on medical marijuana use lacks empathy. She wants to "advance research into it's health benefits" while people are suffering. Again, bullshit rhetoric. She does not commit herself at all.
mountain grammy
(26,621 posts)Hillary will keep marijuana illegal.. maybe Bill should have inhaled.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)the banks. He was high on THC and Monica.
jalan48
(13,866 posts)bluedigger
(17,086 posts)She really just wants to reschedule it to Class II, so the pharmaceutical companies can offer derivatives, while still making recreational use illegal. She's nuanced on it.
nichomachus
(12,754 posts)She will back anything that stuffs money into her donors' pockets and oppose anything that doesn't.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)The ends justify the means.
greymouse
(872 posts)but a few days ago I had a link where she wants it in the same schedule with I think it was codeine. Nuanced, hell, she doesn't give a damn if people suffer as long as her BigPharma friends can make money off that.
passiveporcupine
(8,175 posts)and it tripled in price from the last time I bought it (three months ago). It was 37.11 last time and $150 this time. I couldn't afford it, so came home without it.
Why would they suddenly raise the price on a "generic" drug like that? Last time I had trouble getting it filled because Wal-Mart was having trouble getting it in from the mfg.
I think someone is trying to force those of us who use it and legitimately need it off the drug. Maybe they want us to switch to marijuana?
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)mountain grammy
(26,621 posts)and thanks to High Times for doing what our mainstream media seems incapable of doing.. reporting news.
B Calm
(28,762 posts)Response to LiberalArkie (Original post)
DUbeornot2be This message was self-deleted by its author.
Rex
(65,616 posts)Good, now if we could get companies to stop and this moronic notion that people on welfare need to be tested. It is a tool to keep the working class in the ditches and it is high times the law is removed from the book.