On Oct 12, 2019, at 2:13 PM, mark ibsen <markmusheribsen@gmail.com> wrote:

 

 

Dear Mr Harrington:

 

I could not post in the comments section of the Sandusky register,

So

I am responding in the email. 

Would you kindly ad this to the comments,

Or use this as an OpEd?

Thanks 

 

I have followed Dr Bauer’s case with interest,

As he courageously stands by his patients. 

In his original indictment,

You reported:

 

“According to the indictment from 2007 to this year, Bauer repeatedly prescribed powerful painkillers — including fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone and morphine — without a legitimate medical purpose.

“It’s a terrible betrayal of the public-trust when professionals like Dr. William Bauer are engaged in corrupt practices, to include the diversion of controlled substances,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Keith Martin.

The indictment lists 200 times between 2015 and 2018 that Bauer allegedly improperly distributed controlled substances to seven patients.”

Several things to point out:

In one paragraph DEA says he’s been a criminal since 2007.  My question would be: if he is such a heinous criminal, What Took DEA so long to indict him?

Next question: who decides what IS a legitimate medical purpose? A neurologist with 55 years of experience, or an agent who may or may not have graduated from college, let alone medical school, residency and a lifetime of practice without any legal trouble? Are they proposing this 82 year old grandpa suddenly “broke bad”?

And 

If there are 200 charges regarding 7 patients, does that equate to 28.7 charges per patient? The only way that could be is if they charged him with one felony for every Rx over a period of 29 months, right?

Again, if he’s been committing crimes over 12 years, why only 7 patients? According to the interview, he was seeing 4,000 patients, 1500 on opiates. So, law enforcement believes the 3,993 other patients were treated appropriately? How could that be? If 7 patients were inappropriately treated, would that not be best looked at by his licensing board ( his peers)?

And, if his Rx was legal in 2007, or 2015, (filled by pharmacist, taken by patient, who returned an average of 28 times for another Rx, how can they be illegal, suddenly, now?)

The constitution prohibits ex post facto laws. It calls for due process. If DEA knew he was doing this, and failed to stop him, how indeed are they keeping the citizens of Ohio safe? Is this not a form of entrapment? Or complicity? How were the 7 patients harmed? And, if they were harmed, why did they keep coming back every month?

The new charges just added to inflate the implausible number of felonies, are not equated to a number of patients, but based on previous ratios might equate to less than 10. How were these new crimes discovered? By actual deaths, or by data mining by matching a list of patients of Dr Bauer to a list of crimes by his patients? Did some of Dr Bauer’s patients commit crimes, and did they accept plea deals by lying about the legitimacy of their Rx?  This is the formula DEA has been using since 2004 and the conviction of William Hurwitz. Same techniques used against 1500 doctors over the last 15 years. (See the book 3 Felonies A Day, by Harvey Silverglate). 

We all need to look at the elephant in the room: agencies are thinking very simplistically about the epidemic of heroin/illicit fentanyl, as if doctors prescribing to the 20 million legitimate pain patients who need the medication are the cause. In other words, there is this myth:Johnny, the star high school quarterback breaks his collarbone, gets 20 Percocet, and dies 7 years of heroin OD, and we must blame someone, so let’s blame the doctor. Regarding cars, diabetic meds, air traffic control, and AIDS, we have always engaged in harm reduction, much more successful than prohibition, which has never once worked. 

Let’s stop scapegoating kind old doctors and do our best to reduce harm- in patients, cars, airplanes, infectious diseases, diabetes and all things health related. God Bless Dr Bauer, honoring the Oath of Hippocrates 

 

MarkIbsenMD 

Helena Mt

https://latterly.org/pain-killer/

 

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Deadly fentanyl smuggled across the southern border is quickly spreading nationwide

HIDALGO, Texas. (SBG) — China has long been a major supplier of deadly fentanyl to the United States. But law enforcement agencies including the, Drug Enforcement Administration, say a new player is quickly taking its place. Mexico has picked up the slack in the production of the lethal drug, with

 

smuggling across our southern border becoming an increasing problem as the fentanyl enters the States and quickly spreads nationwide.

Evidence of the growing fentanyl problem was on display earlier this year at the Nogales, Arizona, Port of Entry operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. On a table guarded by an armed officer sat a massive load of fentanyl and methamphetamine. At the time, CBP called it the largest fentanyl seizure in agency history, with millions of dollars worth of the synthetic drug uncovered during an inspection. The fentanyl, found in both pill and powder form, had been smuggled in the hidden compartment of a tractor-trailer, driven by a Mexican national who had hidden the drugs beneath a load of cucumbers. Nogales Area Port Director Michael Humphries said, “We’re organized as well and we’ll use all our resources to prevent the entry of dangerous narcotics into the United States.”

Fentanyl is considered so potent and dangerous that just a few grains are enough to kill. And the drug has become a nationwide killer. According to government statistics, more than 28,000 of the nation’s 70,200 overdose deaths in 2017 could be attributed to fentanyl. Now Spotlight on America has learned the source of deadly fentanyl is even closer to home, with the DEA citing a massive increase coming in from Mexico.

“It’s a significantly bigger problem,” said Will Glaspy, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s Houston division. “Five years ago, we didn’t know how to spell fentanyl in South Texas because we didn’t see it.”

Fentanyl has historically come into the U.S. from China, with some exploiting loopholes in the United States Postal Service as they imported the drug. But now Glaspy says drug cartels just over the border in Mexico have become major players in this deadly game, manufacturing fentanyl and smuggling it in. Often, he explained, it’s disguised as counterfeit pills that look like standard prescription painkillers. Once it’s stateside, it spreads like wildfire.

“That fentanyl can be on the street in South Texas, that very day. It can be on the streets in New Orleans in under two days,” Glaspy said. “And in three days, deadly doses of fentanyl can be on the streets of Atlanta, Chicago and New York.”

The problem is well-known to lawmakers and law enforcement. In July, the shift in supply was discussed at length during a hearing in the House Energy and Commerce Committee with the DEA’s Regional Director Matthew Donahue saying, “Mexican TCOs (Transnational Criminal Organizations) remain the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States. These Mexican poly-drug organizations traffic heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, and now more than ever illicit fentanyl and synthetic opioid analogues, which are responsible for so many deaths over the last several years throughout the United States using established transportation routes and distribution networks.”

In the last three months, Glaspy says his agents in the Houston division have seized more than 20,000 counterfeit pills containing fentanyl. And he told us authorities in Mexico have shut down at least a half dozen clandestine labs in the last six months. One of those labs, he said, had a load of chemicals so huge it could produce enough fentanyl to kill 113million Americans if it made its way across the border.

That’s where U.S. Customs and Border Protection comes in. Spotlight on America got an inside look as agents at the Hidalgo Port of Entry in Texas, ran cars through the border checkpoint and then funneled some into a deeper seven-point inspection, screening for illegal items being smuggled into the country.

CBP Public Affairs Liaison Phil Barrera told us, “We’re the first line of defense. We’re the front door to your house.”

It starts with officer intuition, Barrera explained, but the agency also uses specialized tools. That includes something called a Gemini, which can speed test unknown powders and pills that could potentially be fentanyl. When officers place a small amount of the drug into a testing vial, the machine can identify human-made chemicals in a matter of seconds, which is crucial not just to prevent drug smuggling but also to preserve officer safety. Fentanyl has been problematic for law enforcement and first responders because breathing in a small amount of the drug can create health issues.

Barrera said the machines, which he indicated cost approximately $85,000 each, have become a vital tool during border screenings, “It’ll tell us with pinpoint accuracy what we’re dealing with.”

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Roadside Drug Testing Program Starts in Michigan Today

Read More: Roadside Drug Testing Program Starts in Michigan Today | https://banana1015.com/roadside-drug-testing-program-starts-in-michigan-today/?trackback=fbshare_mobile&utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

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https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/sites/default/files/2019-10/Dosage_Reduction_Discontinuation.pdf

https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2019/10/10/hhs-announces-guide-appropriate-tapering-or-discontinuation-long-term-opioid-use.html

oday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a new Guide for Clinicians on the Appropriate Dosage Reduction or Discontinuation of Long-Term Opioid Analgesics – PDF. Individual patients, as well as the health of the public, benefit when opioids are prescribed only when the benefit of using opioids outweighs the risks.  But once a patient is on opioids for a prolonged duration, any abrupt change in the patient’s regimen may put the patient at risk of harm and should include a thorough, deliberative case review and discussion with the patient. The HHS Guide provides advice to clinicians who are contemplating or initiating a change in opioid dosage.

“Care must be a patient-centered experience. We need to treat people with compassion, and emphasize personalized care tailored to the specific circumstances and unique needs of each patient,” said Adm. Brett P. Giroir, M.D., assistant secretary for health. “This Guide provides more resources for clinicians to best help patients achieve the dual goals of effective pain management and reduction in the risk for addiction.”

Clinicians have a responsibility to coordinate patients’ pain treatment and opioid-related problems. In certain situations, a reduced opioid dosage may be indicated, in joint consultation with the care team and the patient. HHS does not recommend opioids be tapered rapidly or discontinued suddenly due to the significant risks of opioid withdrawal, unless there is a life-threatening issue confronting the individual patient.

Compiled from published guidelines and practices endorsed in the peer-reviewed literature, the Guide covers important issues to consider when changing a patient’s chronic pain therapy. It lists issues to consider prior to making a change, which include shared decision-making with the patient; issues to consider when initiating the change; and issues to consider as a patient’s dosage is being tapered, including the need to treat symptoms of opioid withdrawal and provide behavioral health support. For more information, go to: www.hhs.gov/opioids.

About the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) oversees the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ key public health offices and programs, a number of Presidential and Secretarial advisory committees, 10 regional health offices across the nation, and the Office of the Surgeon General and the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. OASH is committed to leading America to healthier lives.

Follow the Assistant Secretary for Health on Twitter @HHS_ASH , and sign up for HHS Email Updates.

 

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102.3 degrees. this is the temp of Brice’s rejection medication from CVS CAREMARK. It clearly states on the shipping papers for it to be kept at room temp (66 to 77) degrees. we have asked before for them to include gel cooling packs. we have to be home and sign for this. this is straight off the UPS truck. share the heck outta this and shame the big insurance companies . we have been forced to use mail order. we never had problems before that , when we could use our local pharmacy. the insurance compaines have way to much power.

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Billy Earley is a candidate for congress for a district in LongBeach, California.

 

 

Subject: Billy Earley is a candidate for congress for a district in Long Beach , California. 

Below is his statement to CMS today. He is on the right side of history. Let’s get to know him and support him financially Warriors. 

I’m in Southern California.  I will get to know him and possibly help with campaign.  We need to come up with the big bucks..

We have a few candidates to support. Great news. Yes!  

MY STATEMENT TO CMS. LAST DAY TO SEND IN COMMENTS IS TOMORROW, 10-11-19.

painandsudtreatment@cms.hhs.gov 

RFI FOR TREATING PAIN AND SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS

October 10, 2019

To whom it may concern (CMS):

Good morning. My name is Billy Earley and I am a Physician Assistant Healthcare Advocate and I have testified before Congress as a Congressional Briefing Panelists. I would like to submit three (3) important research studies that provides an abundance of clarity into the “pain” treatment and “substance” abuse disorders in the United States. The CMS ability to treat pain and substance use disorders is significantly limited based on many factors including special interest and political agendas. The Inspector General recently reported that the DEA allowed huge growth in pain killer supply as overdose deaths skyrockets.

The Epoch Times just released a research article: China is using Fentanly as “Chemical Warfare” Experts Say. China has played a significant role in the under-treatment of legitimate Americans suffering from acute and chronic pain illnesses. China accounts for 90% of the drugs flooding U.S. borders and they come in the form of opioid pills. However, multiple studies have proven that 90% of opioid deaths were not due to opioids but the U.S. CDC and other Government Agencies blame doctors for these overdose deaths.

The CMS should rely of actual facts and factual research to implement changes and policy. The Doctor-Patient relationship and the Medical Practice Act has been turned into a political circus and compassionate doctors who treat patients for pain or substance abuse are considered drug dealers and their patients are called drug addicts: A very evil and hideous narrative used by Government cronies and Special Interest controlled groups.

Resolution and Opinion:

1)    CMS has an uphill battle in treating pain or substance abuse since narrative is politically driven,

2)    CMS has not address the war against doctors and patients which is critical at this point,

3)    CMS  has not addressed hundreds and thousands of doctors jailed for treating patients with pain,

4)    CMS employees and leadership should learn about the origins of pain management and how doctors were informed that they were “Safe” and “Effective” form of treatment,

5)    CMS leadership should demand factual evidence and create policy and procedures to protect American doctors and patients from further harm and enforcement proceedings, and lastly

6)    CMS would benefit greatly by hiring or obtaining doctors who have been jailed or their businesses have been destroyed for treating pain patients. There are hundreds of Pain Management Experts who have been accused and attacked by Government officials and their lives ruined. CMS should hire at least 30% of these healthcare professionals to provide true substance reporting to CMS’s public and private platforms.

RFI Submission #1

Research Author: Doctor Art Van Zee

The Promotion and Marketing of OxyContin: Commercial Triupm, Public Health Tradedy.

American Journal of Public Health

Published February 2009

Article Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2622774/

📷

The Promotion and Marketing of OxyContin: Commercial Triumph, Public Health Tragedy – PubMed Central (PMC)

CONTROLLED DRUGS, WITH their potential for abuse and diversion, can pose public health risks that are different from—and more problematic than—those of uncontrolled drugs when they are overpromoted and highly prescribed. An in-depth analysis of the promotion and marketing of OxyContin (Purdue Pharma, Stamford, CT), a sustained-release oxycodone preparation, illustrates some of the key issues.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

RFI Submission #2

Research Author: Doctor Michael E. Schatman

Pain management, prescription opioid mortality, and the CDC: is the devil in the data?

Journal of Pain Research

October 2017

Article Link: https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/2300/2017/JPR-PainMgmtRXOpioidMortalityCDC.pdf

EDITORIAL Pain management, prescription opioid mortality, and the CDC: is the devil in the data? – Home :: Washington State Department of Health

submit your manuscript | www.dovepress.com Journal of Pain Research 2017:10 Dovepress Dovepress 2490 Schatman and Ziegler had asserted that they would be open to revising the guideline, and one of their own consultants had notified them that the

www.doh.wa.gov

Submission #3

Practical Pain Management

CDC Opioid Overdose Deaths Over-Reported by Half

April 5, 2018

Website Link:

https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/resources/news-and-research/cdc-opioid-overdose-death-rates-over-reported-half

📷

CDC Opioid Overdose Death Rates Over-Reported by Half

A PPM Brief. Four researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 1 have published an editorial that outlines how the agency’s tracking methods and tallies of prescription opioid deaths have been deemed overestimated and inaccurate. The agency announced that the introduction of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic black market opioids have been incorrectly counted as …

www.practicalpainmanagement.com

Thank you.

Billy Earley, PA Healthcare Advocate

National Adviser Black Doctors Matter

National Adviser American Pain Institute

Advocate World Sickle Cell Federation

Ambassador/Contributor Doctors of Courage

Congressional Briefing Panelists of DOJ Corruption

This e-mail message is intended only for the named recipient(s) above and is covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act 18 U.S.C. Section 2510-2521. This e-mail is confidential and may contain information that is privileged or exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you have received this message in error please immediately notify the sender by return e-mail and delete this e-mail message from your computer.
Sent from my iPhone

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When the corporate pharmacies risk a patient’s life, some pharmacists must note if the patient is a media threat! That’s one of the first questions for the pharmacists to answer on the incident report. Sadly, media is the only way some win appeals. Media may be the only way that the voices of patients will be heard and lives will be saved. The billion-dollar industry is spending millions of dollars lobbying to ensure that our voices will not be heard. If your life is being risked by PBMs and their mail-order pharmacies, let them know that you will reach out to media. Personally, I’m not afraid of telling my story and the story of patients. I’m more afraid of what will happen to the future of pharmaceutical care if we remain silent.

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DEA Raids Texarkana Clinic, Arrests Doctor

https://txktoday.com/crime/dea-raids-texarkana-clinic-arrests-doctor/

Federal agents from the DEA and FBI raided Primary Care Specialists and arrested Dr. Lonnie Parker Tuesday morning.

Duane (DAK) Kees, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas and Justin King, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, announced today that Dr. Lonnie Joseph Parker was arrested today on federal charges. A federal grand jury in the Western District of Arkansas indicted Dr. Parker on nine counts of Prescribing Without a Legitimate Medical Purpose Outside the Scope of a Professional Practice.

Primary Care Specialists is located at E. 24th St. and County Ave in Texarkana, Ark.

​Dr. Parker has been in legal trouble for over prescribing in the past. Parker has also been convicted of possessing child pornography.

According to the Indictment, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Little Rock District Office (LRDO), Tactical Diversion and Diversion Groups initiated an investigation into Dr. Parker of Texarkana, Arkansas in 2018 after receiving complaints from local law enforcement about a suspected pill mill and possible overdose death of a patient. Investigators analyzed prescription drug monitoring data attributed to Dr. Parker, and the investigation revealed Dr. Parker was an over-prescriber of controlled substances, to include opiates, benzodiazepines, and promethazine with codeine cough syrup in the Texarkana area. In the two-year period analyzed, Dr. Parker prescribed approximately 1.2 million dosage units of opiates, including oxycodone and hydrocodone, to approximately 1,508 patients (approximately 847 dosage units per patient). Dr. Parker also prescribed approximately 16 gallons of Promethazine with Codeine cough syrup to approximately 29 patients during the same time period. These prescriptions included several prescriptions written in combination with narcotics and sedatives to high diversion risk patients.

Other agencies participating in the investigation are the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Texarkana Police Department, and the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS). Special Assistant United States Attorney Anne Gardner is prosecuting the case for the United States.

An Indictment is merely an accusation. An arrest warrant represents a finding of probable cause. A person is presumed innocent unless or until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

At the pharmacy that I worked at during the summers while I was a student we had a prescriber in the same shopping center in an adjacent building… His favorite “cough syrup” was a 1:1 ratio of Tussionex and Benylin. The first being a long acting Hydrocodone and Chlortrimeton and the second was Benadryl in a sugary syrup.   This particular prescriber was a high volume writer and this particular store got so many of these prescriptions from this particular doctor that the store premixed up a gallon at a time.

Back then the  DEA did not exist and Chlortrimeton and Benadryl were prescription only meds.  During cold season it was not unusual for the pharmacy to go thru a gallon of this mixture in a WEEK.  So this one doctor it would not be unusual for him to write prescriptions for TWO GALLONS of the Tussionex in a SINGLE MONTH.

Let’s look at their numbers 1.2 million doses for 1508 pts over TWO YEARS… that means that each one of those pts – presuming that they are chronic pain and/or on going pain pts… would come out to abt 1 dose/day/pt – OMG !!!

Looking at the 1.2 million doses another way… using standard of care and best practices for a intractable chronic pain pts… those doses over two years could provide appropriate pain management to 235 pts or about 15% of the total number of pts.  Since it is claimed that about 1/3 of the US population suffers from chronic pain…  So using those averages it would appear that Dr. Parker may have been UNDER TREATING most of the chronic pain pts in his practice.

I wonder if any of these “numbers” were shared with the grand jury ?  Color we skeptical !!!

A federal grand jury in the Western District of Arkansas indicted Dr. Parker  it is claimed that the way that our grand jury system is set up… that a prosecuting attorney could get a HAM SANDWICH INDICTED.

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As opioid crisis surged, state pharmacy board member had the busiest pharmacy in Tulsa County

https://www.readfrontier.org/stories/as-opioid-crisis-surged-state-pharmacy-board-member-had-the-busiest-pharmacy-in-tulsa-county/

 

Spoon Drug, 540 Plaza Court, in Sand Springs. Spoon Drug received more than 8.5 million pain pills between 2006-2012 according to data released by the Washington Post. DYLAN GOFORTH/The Frontier

During a seven-year period, the pharmacy that received the highest-number of opioids in Oklahoma was a long-term care pharmacy in western Oklahoma City.

Coming in second was a southern Oklahoma City Walgreens.

The third was a small, independent pharmacy in Sand Springs, population 20,000. The pharmacy, Spoon Drug, sits in a small shopping center just off the Sand Springs Expressway next to a Taco Bueno and a nail salon. It is owned and operated by James “Jim” Spoon, a longtime member of the state’s pharmacy board and current Sand Springs mayor.

Last week the Washington Post released data that had previously only been available to the Drug Enforcement Administration that tracks every pain pill sold in the United States. 

The Post said it “sifted through” nearly 380 million transactions between 2006 and 2012. The data came from the DEA’s ARCOS database, a drug reporting system the DEA says “monitors the flow of DEA controlled substances from their point of manufacture through commercial distribution channels to point of sale or distribution at the dispensing/retail level.”

“The Post is making this data available … in order to help the public understand the impact of years of prescription pill shipments on their communities.” 

The release of the data by the Washington Post came just after Oklahoma wrapped up its seven-week trial against Johnson & Johnson for its alleged role in the state’s opioid crisis.

Data released by The Washington Post shows that more than 1.4 billion pain pills were received by pharmacies in Oklahoma between 2006 to 2012, a number that would account for more than 50 pills per resident per year. 

The data showed that Walgreen Co. was the largest distributor of opioids from 2006-2012 in Tulsa County, while Actavis Pharma, Inc., a global pharmaceutical company and subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, was the largest manufacturer of pills that made their way to Tulsa County.

And Sand Springs’ Spoon Drug received the highest number of pills in the county. 

There are actually two Spoon Drug locations in Sand Springs and both sites, situated only three miles from each other, were among the Oklahoma pharmacies that received the most pain pills, according to the data.

The first location, at 540 Plaza Court, received 7.8 million pain pills between 2006-2012. The second location, just three miles south off of Oklahoma 97 and 38th Street, received more than 1.5 million. Combined, that figure would rank Spoon Drug second only to Omnicare in Oklahoma City.

Most of the top locations on the list are large pharmacies in bigger cities across Oklahoma. For instance, Walgreens makes up more than half of the 25 pharmacies that received the most opioids. Of those 13 locations, five are in either Tulsa or Oklahoma City. Of the top 25 pharmacies on the list, only five are either not a Walgreens or not located in Oklahoma City or Tulsa. 

There are other smaller pharmacies in smaller towns sprinkled among the list as well. Places like R and S Drug Stores in Duncan, City Drug Store in Hugo, or Beggs Pharmacy in Pryor. 

Spoon opened his first pharmacy 40 years ago. On the Spoon Drug “About Us” page, it states that the facility provides Sand Springs with “prescription delivery, nursing home service, a drive-thru window, and a great opportunity to get to know the pharmacists that serve you.

Spoon is listed as one of five pharmacists at Spoon Drug. He responded to an interview request by saying that while he appreciated the interest, “he had been advised not to comment on the situation since it involves ongoing litigation.”

Last year Spoon Drug was added as a defendant in the civil suit brought against opioid manufacturers by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The lawsuit originally targeted larger corporations such as Purdue Pharma, the McKesson Corporation, or Walgreens and CVS stores. Last July it was amended to add dozens of pharmacies, including Spoon Drug, as defendants. 

Spoon has been on the Oklahoma State Board of Pharmacy Board for years. A spokeswoman at the Pharmacy Board said Spoon had served 20 years on the board and that his current term began in 2017 and expires in 2022.

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Withdraw you support from Incumbant Democrats and Republicans

by Linda Cheek, MD

For the past 20 years, both Democrats and Republicans have allowed, and actually supported, the attacks on doctors and pain patients, in spite of Supreme Court decisions and the fact that addiction is rising exponentially and drugs are not the cause. Why should you continue to support these status quo maintainers, when there are people running for local, state, and federal offices that know and understand the problem, and are willing to get in there and fight for decency and respect of the chronic pain patient and the doctors sticking their necks out to treat them? Stop supporting the establishment, and

GO LIBERTARIAN!!

On October 7^th Cara Schulz, Burnsville, MN City Council member, the candidate recruiting specialist for The Libertarian party, and herself a cancer patient who has seen the denial of pain meds by even oncologists, was interviewed on the DoC Communication Campaign webinar. She gave us some insight into why we need to leave status quo politics behind, and move forward to a new force growing in America. She ended her discussion with the comment (paraphrased):

“Why should we continue to support political parties that have done nothing? That only permits them to continue to do nothing.”

Q: What is the Libertarian Party (LP) and what does it stand for?
A: The basic premise of the party is: don’t hurt people, don’t steal their stuff. People should be able to have voluntary mutual beneficial relationships, acting like adults with one another.

The LP started in 1971. In the history of the LP, they pushed forward discussions, such as the medical use of marijuana, that weren’t popular at the time, but people are now coming around.

More libertarians are being elected into office. Starting with local offices, they then start to impact the wider arena. Local government impacts your day to day life. Local officials create their legislative agenda each year. Those agendas have a big impact on state legislatures. Some communities are starting to push back against the opioid war.

Q: What is the libertarian’s stance on the Controlled Substance Act?
A: The government should not be interfering in the doctor/patient relationship.

One of the laws LP is fighting against is civil asset forfeiture. This law allows for the government to confiscate assets of doctors without even charging them with a crime, and it is ongoing in the War Against Doctors.

Q: How many health care practitioners are in the LP?
A: They don’t know because they don’t invade privacy.

However, there is one doctor, Kyle Varner, MD, an internist in Toppenish, WA who is an active Libertarian. His website is http://www.DrVarner.com.

Q: What needs to be done to get candidates we want elected?
A: Ally with the Libertarian Party

1.    Join the LP. There is strength in numbers.

2.    Donate even if you aren’t a member.

3.    Support the candidates:

o    Ask them the tough questions.

o    Attend events, attend rallies.

o    Speak up about issues.

o    Go to the media.

A person can possibly become a member of the LP without giving up their registration with one of the other main parties. Check with your registration requirements in your state.

Q: Who are the current candidates running for 2019?
A: Current candidates are listed HERE.

They will also be listed on a spreadsheet on DoC Call to Action page

Q: If any of us want to campaign, how do we get connected?
A: Go HERE, fill out the form and submit.

FYI: The Libertarian convention for the 2020 election will be in Austin, Tx over memorial weekend. (May 21-25, 2020) The website is HERE.

Contact your state party to learn how to be appointed as an official voting delegate from your state. Family, friends, and observers who aren’t ticketed convention attendees are most welcome to watch the non-ticketed events in the main hall, take in the exhibits, and enjoy family-friendly attractions, shopping and recreational opportunities.   https://www.lp.org/state-affiliates

Linda Cheek, MD | October 8, 2019 at 3:03 pm | Tags: 2020 Election, Democratic Party, Kyle VarnerMD, the war against doctors, War Aainst Drugs, war against patients | Categories: Legislative | URL: https://wp.me/p7lNfE-2uJ

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