Law Enforcement and Pain Patients

By John Burke, Guest Columnist

I first need to tell you that I spent 48 years in law enforcement and recently retired in 2015 after commanding a large enforcement initiative in southwestern Ohio. I have extensive experience in  prescription drug abuse as it pertains to law enforcement and have written a monthly article for the past 15 years in Pharmacy Times magazine on the topic of drug diversion.

I am the past national president of the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators and current president of the International Health Facility Diversion Association. In short, I am no stranger to the issues surrounding the abuse and diversion of pharmaceuticals.

I am also a self-declared pain patient advocate who strongly believes that the vast majority of controlled substances that are consumed in the U.S. are taken by legitimate pain patients.  Pain patients have no real lobbying group that can apply pressure on politicians – who are often oblivious to the plight of pain patients as they scramble to get reelected!

In 1990, I was fortunate enough to be assigned to form and command the Cincinnati Police Department’s Pharmaceutical Diversion Unit (PDU). In the early 1970’s I had seen prescription drug abuse on the streets and knew that it was a much bigger problem than was being hailed by the news media. In starting PDU, I made a point to try and educate the media on the subject, and we were very successful in doing that as it was a brand new issue as far as they knew and they flocked to our press conferences.

JOHN BURKE

In addition to the arrests, we provided community education on prescription drug abuse, but sadly we said very little about a victim I got to know well -- the chronic pain patient. I can’t honestly say that pain patients entered my mind in those days, as we stayed focused on those illegally diverting pharmaceuticals. We also specialized on the diversion of medications inside healthcare facilities, a huge problem that exists still today.

We entered a time in the 1990’s when pain patients were deemed to be undertreated, new opioid medications were developed and marketed, and as we entered the 21st century, pain pill abuse started to skyrocket. Most of this century has seen a concentration on pharmaceutical diversion issues, with the spotlight on OxyContin until Purdue Pharma successfully marketed an abuse deterrent formulation in 2010. Since then, heroin has exploded onto the illicit drug scene, accelerating the overdose death rate as even the smallest of communities cry for help.

I saw a chronic pain patient up close and personal about 10 years ago. She was my mother-in-law and she came to live with my wife and I in our home. She had been a pain patient since elementary school. Her leg was permanently fused together and over the years she fought doctors who insisted that amputation was the best route to take for her welfare.

One day, her husband came to me and said that his wife was experiencing a particularly bad time with her pain relief and was moaning most of the night, unable to sleep. Since I had participated in dozens of continuing education programs with renowned pain specialists, I did know a little about pain management -- at least enough to ask if they had told her doctor so that her pain medication could be adjusted.

The answer was that she doesn’t take any pain medication due to the fact that her former doctor, several decades deceased, had told her never to take anything stronger than an aspirin or she would get addicted! I was shocked at this and advised him to go back to her current doctor and request some pain medication for a person who had suffered with daily pain for over 60 years at this point.

Her young physician told her that she was unable to prescribe a controlled substance, something that was blatantly false, but was nonetheless a reality for this almost lifetime pain patient. I then assisted them in finding a pain specialist and after one visit she was prescribed a pain patch and immediately started using something she should have had access to years before.

Her relief was incredible. Although not pain free by any means, she came crying to me that it was by far the most significant pain relief she had ever had in her life. No doubt it was, when aspirin was the only analgesic she was taking for chronic pain. This pain had flourished for decades due to the advice of a well-intentioned, but misinformed physician, who warned her about addiction issues when her pain was becoming unbearable.

I offer no apologies for the aggressive prosecutions of criminal doctors and those who prey on drug addicts by prescribing or dispensing controlled substances merely to line their pockets rather than to provide quality pain care. These people had no intention to provide pain relief to patients, and in the end did great damage to legitimate patients by giving the public the erroneous thought that virtually all people on pain meds are nothing more than addicts!

Every presentation I give, I make it a point to remind the audience that the vast majority of pain medications are prescribed by competent caring prescribers, dispensed by caring pharmacists, and end up in the hands of those who desperately need these drugs to perform every day functions we take for granted.

Right now there is incredible pressure by uninformed politicians to suggest some drastic changes in how opioids are prescribed and dispensed in this country. Law enforcement has plenty of good laws to go after the outliers vigorously, and I strongly urge we continue to do that, but with the full realization that the plight of pain patients’ needs to be protected in the meantime. Balance is important in most things in life and this issue is certainly no exception.

The information in this column should not be considered as professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It is for informational purposes only and represents the author’s opinions alone. It does not inherently express or reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of Pain News Network.