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WASHINGTON (March 1) - President Bush's national anti-drug strategy will for the first time target the use of pain relievers, sedatives and stimulants for nonmedical purposes, a problem that has exploded in the last decade.

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This just cannot be happening. Our wonderful, protective government is going to go a step further in protecting us from ourselves by monitoring every single dose of medication that passes our lips now? That kind of concern I can do without.

Please, we must stop this, it's going too far.
Twenty years ago you could buy morphine for an upset stomach, and you could obtain codeine with tylenol for coughs, colds, and minor pain.
Forty years ago you could get stronger drugs than that, over the counter.
Twenty years earlier than that, you could still buy opium and morphine, pretty much for anything, over the counter. A hundred years ago, you could buy heroin cough syrup from your local drugstore.

It's all systematically being taken away from us. Natural resources, and medicines made thereof are being made off-limits. Even medications derived from plants are mostly illegal (if they work). We are seeing a trend where the protection of the individual is paramount, to the extent that we imprison them for their own protection.

Basically the government's intent is to restrict medications for everyone, including the 98% of users who have valid physical pain, in order to "protect" (i.e. punish) the 2% who abuse or use meds recreationally. Note that those with money and connections have no trouble going outside their insurance and paying cash for additional doctors/medications. Does anybody really believe the government is concerned about the health or well-being of drug users and addicts?

To this day, we see drugs disappearing. In the ninieties, we lost Placidyl and Quaaludes, while all pain killers with codeine went prescription in the USA. All of this in perfect synchronization with the War on Drugs.

In the last two months we see epehdra and pseudoephedrine disappearing from the shelves and being banned by our beloved DEA.

Let's not forget that the DEA is a gang of corrupt, power-hungry criminals, brought into existence by that shining beacon of honesty and integrity, Richard Nixon.

As far as I am concerned, the DEA should not even be allowed to exist, much less wield power, intimidate doctors, or dictate to them how to prescribe medications.

The sooner we all (we members of the democracy - you know that body of people that votes, and ultimately holds all the real power if only we can figure out how to direct it and put it to use properly) realize that the DEA and the CSA of 1970 are illegal and just plain perverse, the sooner we can work to get these disbanded/suspended.

I seriously doubt that will mean every kid will go on morhine! Still, one hopes that good parenting will go a long way towards preventing kids getting addicted to anything.

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A key part of the strategy being released Monday involves government efforts to help states develop monitoring systems to track a patient's use of prescription medicine. The monitoring programs flag cases that indicate a pattern of abuse, such as "doctor shopping," where a patient gets prescriptions for drugs from multiple physicians.

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