Saturday, October 29, 2005

Let's see, who would be best qualified to resolve medical issues? The federal government seems to think it's the DEA, and they're wrong. It's time for all medical associations like this one to speak up, and assert their authority. CANTON - Allegations that a Madrid doctor over prescribed narcotics and other painkillers should have been dealt with by his fellow physicians and not the criminal justice system, according to the president of the Medical Society of the County of St. Lawrence. Dr. James L. Latimer closed his office and surrendered his state and federal license a week ago to avoid prosecution. The actions grew out of a long-running investigation by state police and federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents into illegal trafficking of prescription drugs within the county. "We are very disappointed how the case of Dr. Latimer was handled by the district attorney's office," J. Lucas Koberda, president of the medical society, said in a prepared statement released Thursday. "To our knowledge Dr. Latimer's prescribing anti-pain medication pattern did not justify criminal charges to be applied," Dr. Koberda said. Instead, he said, the issue should have been addressed by peer review medical organizations of local doctors or by the state Organization of Professional Medical Conduct. "We would prefer to have worked with local authorities from the beginning when the case was starting to be investigated in order to have prevented any possible future medical misconduct which effects our community," Dr. Koberda said. The DEA and district attorneys act as if they know more about medicine than those who have trained their entire lives. There are already medical associations that can look into allegations of misconduct. The fact that associations are not consulted, and that even the doctors are often not questioned about their prescriptions before a full-scale arrest, just shows that the prohibitionists are not interested in the welfare of the people. They either want trophies, or they actually want to take away our ability to treat pain. [Thanks to jackl] 7:09:16 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Medical Marijuana - the road to true impairment analysis As this legal article points out, medical marijuana is causing some consternation within businesses who use suspicionless drug testing. An important court case is pending on this and there's likely to be more legal action in the future. In the meantime, as the Oregon Court of Appeals articulated in Washburn, here's what is at issue: An employer's substance abuse policy may not categorically prohibit marijuana; It isn't clear if work and marijuana use can be accommodated; and Employers might have to demonstrate an employee's on-the-job impairment, even though impairment cannot be measured. What does this mean? Employers might have to start doing their job right. Evaluate employee performance through things like actual job performance, rather than whether there are metabolites in the blood that have nothing to do with impairment. I have supervised employees most of my life, and I've never depended on drug testing. If someone showed up to work impaired from drugs or alcohol, I sent them home (and I had no problem figuring it out). If they did it again, I fired them. Simple. No drug tests. However, if someone did some wild partying on Saturday night, but were clear and ready to work on Monday, I had no problem -- if they were a good worker, they did well with me. This isn't a hard concept, folks. If you need to have drug tests to find out if your employees are impaired, then you need new supervisors. Drug tests are counter-productive and ruin a good workplace environment. Medical marijuana can help, by making tests for marijuana metabolites worthless. 12:52:34 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Marat Sade This is off-topic for drug policy reform, but I thought I'd let you know more about my current extra-curricular project. I am musical director and performing in a production of "The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade" (also known by the shorter title: "Marat/Sade"). Performances are at the Illinois State University Center for the Performing Arts Theatre in Normal, Illinois, November 4-12. It's a bizarre, wonderful and disturbing play about inmates in an insane asylum in the early 1800s putting on a political musical written and directed by the Marquis de Sade (also an inmate), with political relevance today. So I am playing the harmonium (organ) as a mental patient (I'm chained to it during the show). The show is full of sex, violence, philosophy, and politics. It's great fun. If you're in the area, check it out. The first one to email me with a request for tickets will get two free tickets. 12:37:33 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Feeding the trolls It's pretty exciting to have reached a level of visibility and power in the blogosphere that I can attract trolls. It's been, in some ways, a novel treat, and for our commenters, it's been an opportunity to do a little practice. However, there's a limit to the value of responding to trolls, because they aren't really interested in learning anything. They just spout the same refuted points over and over. The value for other commenters soon fades, as they are not given the opportunity to take an argument to the next level -- something that a discussion with a reasoned debater would allow. At this point, I'm going to limit Taylor to 5 posts a day. That's a huge amount. Anything over that will be deleted. Instead of writing 25 posts without saying anything, Taylor, take the time to think through 5 better posts. Part of this is selfish. I have limited time and yet I want to read all comments posted to my blog. This repetitive argumentation is cutting down on my time to post blog entries. If abuse continues, I may look into options for banning trolls, but I prefer not to do that. Reactions? 12:27:41 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []