Federal Government Stupidity – Part 1
by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt
Federal Government Stupidity – Part 1
Part 1 of an occasional series
The “war on drugs” isn’t working so well.
But fear not, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has a clever plan to stop the flow of illegal drugs.
The DEA is harassing nursing home nurses who take oral narc orders (additions or changes) from physicians before the physician has physically signed the scrip. At midnight on Saturday this is the only way to provide care.
Honest to God.
Nursing homes do not have physicians or pharmacies on site, so care depends on the use of phone calls and signed fax orders to provide timely care, especially nights and weekends.
Every med entering the nursing home is logged and signed for, every med is signed out when administered, and every narc in the inventory is counted and signed for THREE TIMES A DAY!
If every narc in the typical nursing home were stolen and sent to the streets it wouldn’t amount to a tiny fraction of a good dope shipment.
Nursing home surveyors, another branch of the the government, are citing facilities for not providing timely pain relief.
Stupid.
I wonder if this is what Nixon and Reagan had in mind? I doubt it!
Oh, I think it’s pretty close to what they had in mind.
What do you mean, not working?
Min,
No..I doubt it..most of the drugs Rusty is refering to weren’t even invented back then.
No, I meant the level of gov’t intrusion is pretty close to what they had in mind.
I suspect that Nixon knew perfectly well that the war on drugs was unlikely to work, but viewed it as another rallying point for conservative votes. Reagan probably believed that the government with public support (why would the public support it?) could surpress recreational drugs other than ethanol without undesirable consequences. He wasn’t very bright and his experience in politics and governance was limited to being one of a long string of inept governors in California (of both parties BTW). I’ve always thought that GHWB deserves a lot more credit than he gets for quietly straightening out much of the mess that Reagan created. But he didn’t get around to the War on Drugs. For all I know, he supports it without reservation.
I don’t think that drugs Rusty is complaining about differ all that much from street drugs. e.g. oxycodone was originally derived from a naturally occuring opiate and chemically isn’t much different from codiene which in turn can be made from opium poppy derived morphine.
Back when Nixon declared war on drugs, my dad turned to me and said “It’s going to be just like prohibition”. He was correct. It’s just like prohibition. … except that we don’t have the good sense to end it then spend 20 years dismantling the drug gangs and other unintended consequences of this misquided policy.
BTW, I suspect that if any significant quantity of prescription drugs reaches the street, it doesn’t, and never has, come from nursing homes or local pharmacies. But the DEA like the TSA seems to exist more to look busy than to actually accomplish anything.
Well if the DEA went where the REAL problem is, they would probably get their ass shot off. Easier to go after nurses and the aged.
They could always go after Rush’s doctor, but then Rush would probably harrass them and call it a “politically motivated witch hunt”.
The war on Drugs is stupid. Legalaize pot and treat it like alchohol. Decrimilaize harder drugs. So for example, a heroin addict here in Baltimore will be givin a choice get free safe heroin from a doctor, and/or treatment. The latter does not necessarily stop abuse, but it will better control HIV, thefts/robberies, and constant drug gang wars.
Don’t disagree with any of that. Oxycodone is a generic BTW, and I suspect it would probably sell for about 10-25 cents a pill if it were sold over the counter. The only two issues I can see. How to discourage those who are too far gone from driving (not that we really care or every bar would have mandatory breathalyzer tests before they served another drink). And how to license/zone operations like meth labs to minimize the risk to neighbors and pets.
Mrs. Rustbelt is filling in for the Director of Nursing this week, and had a nice quiet 14 hour day yesterday, much of it spent moving new physician orders into action and dealing with various personnel issues.
Then this morning she was called out of bed early to deal with a malfunctioning IV pump.
So I take her some tea while she juggles two phones at the same time, I ask during a break if more paperwork and more regulations would help her do her job.
The language she used would make a Teamster blush – oh my.
By the way, in the deep bowels of the Obama-care bill are requirements for more mandatory paperwork for nursing homes, on top of the massive amounts already required.
To answer this we clearly need a breath analyser for drugs, to put on the proper cars. We need more tax revenue so to use an arguement the folks in favor of repeal of prohibition used lets tax drugs and make them legal. We can reserve some of the funds for those who want treatment. Since operating a vehicle is already illegal under the influence of drugs, we just have to decide how it ranks compared to drunk driving in terms of penalities.
Mrs Rustbelt has my sympathy. Has she discovered yet that Information Technology has a plethora of solutions to her problems that are 90% ready to go … and will always be 90% ready to go.
Here is our war on drugs:
1 million doing very hard time at any one time;
3-4 million did hard time at one time or other;
10 million with life ruining felony convictions.
100 million addicts saved? Maybe not one.
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Meantime the federal minimum wage is now 75 cents an hour below the Eisenhower administration minimum, $8/hr (adjusted) — 250% average income growth later.
Meantime kids growing up in our (unnecessary) ghettos (created solely by our crazily one-sided labor market if you ask me) wont work for impossibly low wages — 250% average income growth later. LBJ had the minimum at $10/hr.
Thus: the Crips and the Bloods — purely economic institutions. If the Hells Angels won the lottery they would build a bigger, badder club house. If a street gang won half would go to college. If the minimum wage were $15/hr there would be no Crips or Bloods (and what price would go up except the price of fast food — by 1/3?).
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But we have to supply both sides if we want a war.
She is just a worker bee, and the tech solutions for nursing homes tend to work in the billing office but cause chaos on the floor.