On several posts when someone from Mississippi has commented about local policies about narcotics and other meds the posts have been met with a lot of "you have got to be kidding!" replies.
The climate around here has gotten so anti-narcotic that these are actual examples:

1. A co-worker was dying of prostate cancer. The oncologist said he could only medicate him on an ongoing basis if he was admitted to a hospital or hospice. He could not let him die at home as he would not be able to administer any pain relief.

2. My step-grandmother had 6 months to live due to lung cancer. Her doctor convinced two of her sons she needed to be admitted to rehab due to her dependence on pain killers. The incompassionate jerks did it. She died 3 months later.

3. There are many people in my local area who are below the poverty level. If a doctor writes several Rx's on the same slip the pharmacist's can not fill anything controlled on the slip unless ALL meds are picked up at the same time. If the doctor gave you a weeks sample of the antibiotic for your child so you could afford the cough syrup now and the antibiotic next pay check, tough luck. You pay for it all, or only get the antibiotic.

4. I was a victim of a violent crime. At the hospital the deputy pulled an old meds bottle out of his pocket. He had found it under the back seat of my car. It was about a year old. He questioned me about it and why there was a current bottle in my jacket pocket. I explained I had a chronic potentially terminal condition and gave him my doctor's name and #. I also had a bottle of generic asprin in the car. They sent the asprin to a lab to be tested (would have quicker to taste it?), and reported in the local paper they believed the incident to be a "drug deal gone wrong".

4. On a sillier note, at the local Walmart if you want to buy a combination sinus med, OK. Any sudafed or the generic you can only get if the pharmacist is working, he will sell you only one box, and he will record the purchase. He has been known to check in the computer and look up your pharmacy records before he will sell it to you. I see these 80 year old farm ladies and gentleman who only come into town one Saturday a month getting really ticked. I then picture this geriatric Pentacostal couple saying " will you hurry up and finish milking the cows, we need to get the meth lab up and running!"