Cracking Down on Drugs Over 52 million people in America have abused prescription drugs at least once in their lifetime as of 2014 (Volkow). This only makes me wonder—what are the statistics like now, a year later? Prescription drug abuse is the non-medical use or overuse of someone else’s or their own prescribed drug. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) classified prescription drug abuse as a national epidemic. People, often teens, believe prescription drugs are safer than illicit drugs but they also pose harmful side effects. After marijuana and alcohol, prescription drugs are the most commonly abused drug amongst teens 14 and over in America (NDIA). Teens abuse drugs for different reasons; to get high, to “study better”, to lose weight
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In recent years, doctors have been moving away from paper prescriptions because of problems like this. This allows the doctor to send the prescription electronically to the patient’s pharmacy, leaving the patient no means of tampering with the prescription. My law will demand that all prescriptions be electronic. The law will also ensure that doctor shopping is no longer possible by keeping track of every patient and their doctor through a digital government database called iMD of every patient and their doctor. The only way a patient can get a new doctor is through a written referral from the previous doctor or by filling out an application that will be reviewed by iMD. All other methods of smuggling prescription drugs will be punishable by a fine upwards of $1,000 depending on the case. Opponents to iMD will argue that the electronic approach of iMD takes too long compared to writing because doctors are very busy and they don’t have time. Instead of scribbling an illegible string of words that may be lost in translation by the pharmacist or altered by the patient, a few extra seconds on iMD can save the patient’s life. Challengers of iMD also say that it brings about unnecessary costs. There will be an initial cost to purchase iMD for only $675 and this price includes the online training course. This to me seems like a small price to pay for the betterment of the …show more content…
In summary, Obama’s four step plan states that Americans should be supportive of the people who are going through addiction and that those suffering from addiction should have more access to treatment. He also believes that educating society on this issue will prevent drug use. Although these pose great suggestions they don’t hit all the problem areas. Doctoring prescriptions and using other people’s prescriptions are already illegal, but people still do
In recent years, doctors have been moving away from paper prescriptions because of problems like this. This allows the doctor to send the prescription electronically to the patient’s pharmacy, leaving the patient no means of tampering with the prescription. My law will demand that all prescriptions be electronic. The law will also ensure that doctor shopping is no longer possible by keeping track of every patient and their doctor through a digital government database called iMD of every patient and their doctor. The only way a patient can get a new doctor is through a written referral from the previous doctor or by filling out an application that will be reviewed by iMD. All other methods of smuggling prescription drugs will be punishable by a fine upwards of $1,000 depending on the case. Opponents to iMD will argue that the electronic approach of iMD takes too long compared to writing because doctors are very busy and they don’t have time. Instead of scribbling an illegible string of words that may be lost in translation by the pharmacist or altered by the patient, a few extra seconds on iMD can save the patient’s life. Challengers of iMD also say that it brings about unnecessary costs. There will be an initial cost to purchase iMD for only $675 and this price includes the online training course. This to me seems like a small price to pay for the betterment of the …show more content…
In summary, Obama’s four step plan states that Americans should be supportive of the people who are going through addiction and that those suffering from addiction should have more access to treatment. He also believes that educating society on this issue will prevent drug use. Although these pose great suggestions they don’t hit all the problem areas. Doctoring prescriptions and using other people’s prescriptions are already illegal, but people still do