State mandated drug test

MK111 · Jun 9, 2014

It appears Ohio went to a State mandated drug test on all patients who are written pain meds.
I take a pain med for my MS pain, back and hip pain. So my test will show the pain med and be so noted which is OK.
The Doctor said he was floored this year with all his up standing patients coming back with illegal drug results. He said he doesn't pass judgment but just advises them they have been report to the State for illegal drug results and they better clean themselves up.
He also said Ohio needs to look at the use of pot for medical pain control. As pot is much better at pain control than most pain meds.
Plus he said the biggest abusers were elderly grandma's who are prescribed pain med and sell it. When they come back on their drug test clean they are reported to the State.
Interesting.

hickslawns · Jun 9, 2014

Doesn't surprise me. Might as well make the welfare people sign up for drug tests as well. Sounds like a pretty simple process. I have looked into it. It IS a simple process. Not very expensive either.

MK111 · Jun 9, 2014

hickslawns said:
Doesn't surprise me. Might as well make the welfare people sign up for drug tests as well. Sounds like a pretty simple process. I have looked into it. It IS a simple process. Not very expensive either.

Just pee into a cup.

Diane · Jun 9, 2014

Wonder if this is only a certain class of pain meds? Tramadol is about the only thing I can take without being "fall down drunk" and I know it's pretty mild.

When I hurt my back, my doctor wasn't thrilled that I didn't want/couldn't take stronger drugs and advised me to take it with tylenol and ibuprofen round the clock to help with the pain.

MK111 · Jun 9, 2014

He said narcotics and stronger.

Diane · Jun 9, 2014

That explains it. Tramadol isn't considered a narcotic.

Hoytmania · Jun 9, 2014

My wife takes care of a elderly German couple and the husband is on morphine. Last time she took him to the doctor they swabbed his saliva to see if the morphine was in his system.

Big_Holla · Jun 10, 2014

Wow, didn't know some states are doing this. I just wonder how long it will last before it gets challenged.

Diane · Jun 10, 2014

Big_Holla said:
Wow, didn't know some states are doing this. I just wonder how long it will last before it gets challenged.

I know the "pain clinics" have been doing this for a few years now, but not the average doctor. (Frank, is it the regular doctors doing this also?)
But yeah, I'm sure it will be challenged.

Jackalope · Jun 10, 2014

They need to do something. Prescription pain med abuse is rampant and it spans all age groups and social classes. From poor to rich. It has also led to the massive heroin problem most of our cities face. When they cant get pills they turn to heroin.

bowhunter1023 · Jun 10, 2014

Jackalope said:
They need to do something. Prescription pain med abuse is rampant and it spans all age groups and social classes. From poor to rich. It has also led to the massive heroin problem most of our cities face. When they cant get pills they turn to heroin.

Yea, but pot will kill you. :smiley_blackeye:

MK111 · Jun 10, 2014

bowhunter1023 said:
Yea, but pot will kill you. :smiley_blackeye:

I feel you jest. My doctors said pot works better for pain than most prescription pain meds. He feels Ohio must look at pot for medical reasons for pain control. But until Ohio changes the law he has no reason to do any research on pot uses.

bowhunter1023 · Jun 10, 2014

I could go on and on about this issue. IMO legalizing marijuana is the right choice and one that would have far more positive benefits than negative. I've been at war with an old college buddy of mine on FB over this. He's narrow minded and refuses to see the light. Weed isn't just for teenage stoners and gang bangers. It doesn't cause blacks or Mexicans to rape white women as was the propaganda that got it criminalized. And William Randolph Hearst will stay just as dead if we allow hemp production to resume in the US which will happen when weed is legalized. Then of course there is the whole issue with privatized prisons and some staggering percentage of inmates there on marijuana related charges.

People's views are changing. It may take 5-10 more years, but Ohio will catch on. When you see Colorado gain $100 million in tax revenue while murder/crime rates drop, even the skeptics begin to pay attention. Colorado and Washington will set the pace and more states will follow. The almighty dollar reigns in this country and the Pot $ is becoming a force to be reckoned with. That means the pot lobby will gain strength and in due time, people will be given the freedom to choose for themselves. Meanwhile we'll allow our local pharmacy to sell harmful drugs and alcohol, right out the back door. The hypocrisy tied to all this is amazing.

Big_Holla · Jun 10, 2014

I have mixed emotions when it comes to legalizing pot. When our neighbors sold their house on a short sale and the buyers paid $70,000 cash for it the alarm bells went off in the neighborhood. Soon we found out that the new owners have a medical marijuana license to grow pot (legal in Mich.) there and that's when some real rough looking people began showing up. They quickly converted the garage into a growing facility. Within two months we had someone attempt to siphon gas from my truck, garage was broken into and one of our house screens was cut. Before that we literally only had the occasional mail box getting smashed and I have lived in that house since I was 7 years old. Now when it's lawn cutting day over there it's like a work release crew shows up, the kind you get concerned over when you have a wife and two kids living with you. Maybe it all would change if it's legalized, IDK.

I can honestly say to this date that I have never tried pot and never will. I grew up with both parents smoking and I absolutely HATED it, maybe that is part of the reason. For whatever reason some feel they need to do it, some drink and some others do more potent drugs. You always have heard the saying that pot is often the introduction into much stronger and even sometimes lethal drugs. Hard to say if that is true. I would imagine each and every person is different in what they are trying to get out of it just as some recreate with it much like alcohol. I can look back at a few kids from high school who did it and some are dead now because of that lifestyle they chose, some I still see walking around stoned to this day while others have moved on and led productive lives.

bowhunter1023 · Jun 10, 2014

Big_Holla said:
You always have heard the saying that pot is often the introduction into much stronger and even sometimes lethal drugs. Hard to say if that is true.

Life is all about choices. A vast majority of Americans choose to shovel food in to their faces (me being one) that carry as significant (arguably more) health risks as smoking marijuana carries. The whole "gateway drug" argument is nothing but more propaganda. LOTS of TOOzers have partaken in a little ganja in their day and yet, none of us have a bad drug habit. I never once tried anything other than weed with the only exception being psilocybin mushrooms once in college. Yes smoking weed can lead to one being immersed in a culture that facilitates hard drug use. However smoking a joint won't turn you in to a heroin addict.

Whiskey makes an asshole of a lot of people, yet it is easily one of the most readily available drugs on the market. The consumption of spirits leads to physical/verbal abuse, assaults, murders, general crime, gambling, infidelity, and the list goes on. While the same could be said about marijuana, the fact remains that people who are stoned just get hungry and introspective. I'd much rather my daughter grow up to use weed as a crutch than alcohol.

oakswamper · Jun 10, 2014

hickslawns said:
Doesn't surprise me. Might as well make the welfare people sign up for drug tests as well. Sounds like a pretty simple process. I have looked into it. It IS a simple process. Not very expensive either.

I thought this too, but I was told by a person that works at a welfare department that the cost would be real high.

Jackalope · Jun 10, 2014

Big_Holla said:
I have mixed emotions when it comes to legalizing pot. When our neighbors sold their house on a short sale and the buyers paid $70,000 cash for it the alarm bells went off in the neighborhood. Soon we found out that the new owners have a medical marijuana license to grow pot (legal in Mich.) there and that's when some real rough looking people began showing up. They quickly converted the garage into a growing facility. Within two months we had someone attempt to siphon gas from my truck, garage was broken into and one of our house screens was cut. Before that we literally only had the occasional mail box getting smashed and I have lived in that house since I was 7 years old. Now when it's lawn cutting day over there it's like a work release crew shows up, the kind you get concerned over when you have a wife and two kids living with you. Maybe it all would change if it's legalized, IDK.

I can honestly say to this date that I have never tried pot and never will. I grew up with both parents smoking and I absolutely HATED it, maybe that is part of the reason. For whatever reason some feel they need to do it, some drink and some others do more potent drugs. You always have heard the saying that pot is often the introduction into much stronger and even sometimes lethal drugs. Hard to say if that is true. I would imagine each and every person is different in what they are trying to get out of it just as some recreate with it much like alcohol. I can look back at a few kids from high school who did it and some are dead now because of that lifestyle they chose, some I still see walking around stoned to this day while others have moved on and led productive lives.

I think you would be absolutely shocked if you knew how many people around you actually smoked pot. The difference is those people don't flaunt it and aren't the stereotypical potheads so we never correlate them to it. We have a negative association with it due to the nature of people we know who typically smoke it. But what we don't see is the respectable people who do too.

Lumber head 75 · Jun 10, 2014

Well said, i think if some one is going to sit on their duff, get high and collect welfare I think they should have to pass a drug test just as I do to be able to work. I don't smoke but if a hard working man or woman comes home and smokes a doobie, that is their choice and it don't bother me at all.

Mike · Jun 10, 2014

Legalize.

MK111 · Jun 10, 2014

At 70 I never have tried pot and probably never will. But as my Doctor and I discussed yesterday with me living with MS muscle pain 24/7 for the last 34 yrs. pot would do a much better job of controlling the pain than any pain medication known. But it's not legal in Ohio and I have to much to loose if caught. So life goes on.

State mandated drug test

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