Saint Paul, Minn. — A coalition of Minnesota law enforcement officials announced today that it will push to ban Minnesota patients from using a long list of dangerous prescription pain killers being sold on the streets by criminals.
At a news conference at the State Capitol today, the Minnesota Law Enforcement Coalition (MLEC) called for legislation to ban codeine, morphine, methadone, fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone, bitartrate, hydromorphone, oxymorphone, meperidine, and propoxyphene. Law enforcement officials stressed that these prescription pain medicines all are dangerous when not used as prescribed, and are currently being sold by criminals on the streets, often to young people.
MLEC has taken the same stand against legislation to make marijuana available to Minnesota patients. Because many seriously ill patients find that marijuana relieves pain and nausea, it has been legalized for medical use in 20 states. But MLEC opposes making marijuana available to Minnesota patients, since it can be harmful when abused, and is being sold illegally on the streets.
“We must do whatever we can to eliminate the abuse and criminal activity associated with these dangerous prescription pain killers,” said Wayne Krupke, Executive Director of MLEC. “For the same reasons marijuana shouldn’t be given to patients, these prescription pain killers shouldn’t be given to patients.”
The advocacy organization Patients for Effective Pain Management (PEPM) maintains that drugs like marijuana, morphine and oxycodone relieve the pain of seriously ill patients, and the good that comes from that outweighs the harm caused by abusers of those drugs.
“It’s inhumane to deny a proven pain reliever to suffering patients, simply because abuse is possible,” said Mary Ann Wakefield, PEPM’s Executive Director. “Many of the most effective pain meds can be abused or sold on the black market, but that doesn’t mean that we should turn our backs on patients helped by those drugs.”
However, Krupke maintains that the medical community has many other pain killers at their disposal, such as aspirin, acupuncture and meditation. At the same time, he points out that the National Institute on Drug Abuse has found that approximately 16 million Americans reported using a prescription drug for nonmedical reasons in 2010.
“As with marijuana, no one can guarantee that drugs like morphine and oxycodone won’t be sold by drug dealers and abused by kids,” said Krupke. “Until and unless they can provide such a guarantee, those pain killers must be outlawed for all, including patients.”
Meanwhile, Governor Mark Dayton pledged to support whatever the law enforcement lobby recommends.
“I will not compromise on this issue unless someone can convince the law enforcement lobby to compromise on it,” said Dayton. “When it comes to what is best for patients in pain, I put my full confidence in the law enforcement lobby.”
Note: This post is satire, and not an actual news story. It was featured in Politics in Minnesota’s Best of the Blogs.