Painkiller politics: Effort to curb prescribing under fire

The current availability rules combined with the expansion of Medicaid in many states, have flooded the black market with pills. Thus the spike in overdose deaths. A sharp reductions in the number of pills in circulation would shift the overdose numbers from pills to the still available heroin for already hooked users, but might also reduce the number of new addicts introduced to pills from new prescribed users. Under current rules, a person who has an operation which will cause pain, is often given 90 doses to handle "breakthrough" pain. They may need only a few of those doses, or none at all if they do not like the "high" , a disorienting side effect and can tough out the pain. Hard to turn down the option of selling the remaining doses to the many users who will pay $10 to $30 for the high they seek from each dose! Others with chronic pain conditions use some of their prescribed pills and sell the rest as a regular practice, and have in recent years established this as a permanent income source. And there are others who conspire with low life doctors to get unneeded prescriptions to use or sell for the high and income alone. Thus billions of dollars for drug companies, almost all of it from the pockets of taxpayers or insurance companies. Not surprised they lobby against any change.