The article reprinted from the San Jose Mercury News on 21 November 2014 in the Record-Bee is another sad example of overreaction and misplaced culpability. Sure, the woman ran down and killed two children and she had taken Vicodin and had been drinking. That is sad, but, in a state of more than 20,000,000 people, there are many sad events. Why is it we wish to put the blame on someone other than the responsible party?
If the woman had eaten 3 pounds of carrots and was drinking, would we want to start a register for carrots? How about a register for booze, as it is much more easily obtained? Some people abuse prescription drugs; that is a fact of life. Some folks use illegal drugs too. But passing laws that make it difficult for the legitimate use of a drug by a person that needs it is simply overreaction.
While riding my motorcycle, I was hit head-on by a drunk woman and spent 12 months in traction in a hospital. Should I blame Jack Daniels, Jose Cuervo or Jim Beam? Should I make it the fault of the clerk that sold the alcohol to her? Should I try to pass a law to make booze illegal? Or should the blame be placed on the person that poured the booze down her throat then decided to drive?
As of 6 October 2014, no more refills can be given for Vicodin or other drugs of the same class. So now I have to drive 95 miles to see my doctor every time I need a refill. Does that make anyone safer? Does that make for good medicine? Does it even make good sense? None of the above.
I think that we should restrict the sales of carrots because in most car crashes it can be shown that the driver had eaten some form of carrot in the previous month. Then there should be a law requiring everyone to be wrapped in bubble wrap when outside their houses to prevent injury from parts of the falling sky. Grow up people. Blame the person that is responsible; that is not every prescribing doctor or person in need of pain medication.
I have had friends that had cancer and died in terrible pain because doctors were afraid to prescribe enough medication because Big Brother was watching.
Things finally got a little looser so that folks that had chronic pain could get some relief. Now because of overreaction Big Brother once again is interceding to prevent the vast majority from receiving the medications they need because the one-tenth of 1 percent may abuse the drug.
William Ford, Clearlake
