[gnarcoregrizz]

The DEA is evil. They drag their feet in allowing FDA approved medicines to be approved for sale. There was a law passed recently that they had N months to schedule it because they kept taking so long. If a single person in a study says a medicine gives them feelings of euphoria it can be subject to scheduling, which makes it an epic pain in the ass to acquire. They don’t allow electronic prescriptions to be sent for some drugs, and at least for mine, they can’t be for longer than 90 days.

For example, I am basically forced to take Vimpat, a DEA scheduled anti-epilepsy medicine. Due to the scheduling, I can only pick it up 2 days before it’s due for refill, and otherwise have to have a doctor provide me an early refill request. It’s like they don’t expect me to ever go on vacation or have a life. I feel chained down by this. The DEA treats me like a pleasure seeking drug addict. The sad thing is I am a drug addict, I just take it to stay alive, and don’t get any pleasure from this drug. If I don’t get it I’ll probably withdrawal and die. Also, who the hell is going to use a drug that costs $1400/month for pleasure?

I. Hate. The. DEA. For some of these epilepsy drugs the scheduling seems cruel and senseless. All it does is make life difficult for doctors, pharmacies, and patients. For what??? No one wants to take these drugs. It’s a joke that this stupid agency would even consider these to have some recreational value. Sure the benzos, but for the majority of them, no.

[renewiltord]

A friend of mine calls this Suffering Theology. Anything that might bring pleasure is bad. It's why so many medical justifications had to be made to make marijuana legal. It's why we have to say "oh, shrooms heal depression" or whatever shit before we can decriminalize.

There is a deep Puritanism that ramifies through America. Suffering is necessary. Pain is necessary.

[short_sells_poo]

I'd say it's likely much more banal than that. There are armies of bureaucrats and agents whose livelihood and source of influence is rooted in the war on drugs. It is against their interests to go easy.

[ufmace]

There's probably some of that. But this also reminds me of SSC's Against Against Pseudoaddiction[0]. Seems like some people really really want to be able to say, oooh I caught me a drug addict, nice try you lousy addict!

[0] https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/09/16/against-against-pseudo...

[scarface74]

Hell it’s a pain in the ass for me to try to keep a supply of psuedophredrine. Whenever I get a cold, let alone Covid, Sudafed is the only thing that keeps my overactive immune system in check and keeps my asthma from flaring up.

There is basically a national registry that records when I buy Sudafed. But let someone even mention a registry for guns and people go nuts.

See also: now that drugs affect “rural America” and the burbs it’s a “disease” caused by a lax government. But when it was mostly affecting “the inner city” it was because of “poor morals” and absentee fathers (who were overwhelmingly targeted by the “War on Drugs”)

And yes I’m well aware that both political parties are culpable