Before the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act passed in 1914, the federal government pretty much left Americans alone to medicate with alcohol, opiates, and cocaine as they saw fit.
Some years ago when Peace Corps Volunteers served in South Korea (me among them), you could obtain all legal drugs without a prescription.
Had a cough you could not get rid of? Codeine was on hand at the corner drugstore for less than a dollar. Speed was available for about 6 cents a pill. I never needed them, although they were nearby if I needed them.
All Korean drugstores were off-limits to U.S. Military Personnel. I guess soldiers are expected to suck it up and endure the pain.
Politicians have long sense given up on following the Constitution. At least they knew before 1914 that the Constitution did not permit the federal government to ban plants and natural pharmaceuticals. The first big law - the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act - is a TAX statute.
The Act provides:
"Chap 1. - An Act To provide for the registration of, with collectors of internal revenue, and to impose a special tax on all persons who produce, import, manufacture, compound, deal in, dispense, sell, distribute, or give away opium or coca leaves, their salts, derivatives, or preparations, and for other purposes."
Still technically lawful for private use at that point in time, some medical doctors who prescribed opiates to addicts ended up arrested and imprisoned because addiction was not considered a "disease" a medical doctor could treat in "the course of his professional practice."
Compared to other countries, physicians in the U.S. are afraid to prescribe opiates and other restricted pain killers - even when they know their patients would benefit.
Terminal cancer patients are routinely treated with liquid opiates in England and can live their last days free of excruciating pain. Not so for their U.S. cousins, unless they want liquified black tar heroin on the back streets of Houston.
As a result of a nanny state and a failed war on drugs, the best pain medications are routinely denied or completely prohibited to patients in the U.S.
In my mind, pain management is more medical art than medical science. The last thing we need is government bureaucrats deciding what treatment you can or cannot receive.
Pain clinics come in many forms:
- individual pain centers staffed by MDs
- separate departments in hospitals and universities
- chiropractors
- acupuncturists
- physical therapists
- psychiatrists/psychologists
Alternatives:
- clinics that readily prescribe pain killers - "pill mills"
- yoga
- hypnosis
- medical marijuana
Chronic pain focused in one area of the body may possibly be taken care of more successfully through one type of chronic pain clinic than another. Chiropractors, for example, are a normal stop for people with persistent back pain. But back pain is complicated, and may possibly require your family doctor, physical therapy, or even acupuncture.
Major types of pain consist of:
- cancer
- arthritis
- sciatica
- back
- neck
- leg
- foot
- headache
Pain management is further complicated by insurance companies. Health insurance restricts most pain relief to pharmaceuticals prescribed by their plan physicians.
Expect to pay your own way. Most pain management facilities do not take insurance coverage.
The aim of this site is to look at various types of pain treatment and to help visitors find the correct pain clinic in their local area.
Tags: pain management centers,pain centers,sciatica,chronic pain centers,chiropractors,acupuncture
For more on sciatica pain relief or local pain management centers, visit: "No More Pain" Clinics.
Charles Lamm is a retired attorney now working to assist those with chronic pain in finding the right medical treatment plans in their local areas. - http://nomorepainclinics.com
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