Nice Little Chat with the White House Today
May 24, 2016 3:47:27 GMT
Saltysplash and peterboat like this
Post by PaulG2 on May 24, 2016 3:47:27 GMT
I never saw this coming...
I belong or subscribe to a number of organizations and issue advocacy groups that function to bring public attention to and public pressure to bear on the people or organizations that they wish to influence. Some of these organizations can generate 100,000 phone calls to, for example, a Senator, or a million emails per week to every member of the House. I am mostly just a cog in the wheel, but the numbers we are talking about come about one person at a time so every individual is important. Every day I take some time to write letters, make phone calls, sign petitions - yada, yada, yada.
One issue that concerns me is that, with the Drug War waning, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has poked its ugly nose into the pain treatment industry, a certified medical specialty, and what the DEA is terming our new "opioid epidemic". Of course, what the DEA is doing is trying to find a way to remain relevant and to try to convince the legislature that they have been something other than abject failures in the war on drugs. The DEA and now the legislature all have their panties bunched up in knots, which for male DEA agents means they aren't getting any oxygen to their brains. As usual, the DEA has trotted out some bogus statistics about accidental opioid overdose, and how rampant it is.
The DEA is part of the Executive branch of government, and therefor under direct control of the president. A week or so ago the Obama administration was considering making some rule changes, or some such thing, that addressed the new found "opioid epidemic". I wrote a letter to the President and told him my opinion about the DEA interfering in us geezers' medical treatment. I have back problems due to an industrial injury. Sooner or later I will have a minimally invasive type of surgery that should clear up the major source of pain. But getting the surgery approved by the industrial board is time consuming and so, until I have the surgery, I am in constant pain. For this I take pain meds.
The DEA has compiled statistics that show that accidental opioid overdoses have increased significantly in recent years - corresponding with the DEA cracking down on the use of pain meds. They use this statistic to justify cracking down even more. I suggested to the President that the DEA statistics were all wrong, and that many of the overdose deaths were not accidental at all. I explained, from the perspective of experience, how being in constant pain eats at you and how people who are in constant pain for many years can gradually lose their will to live and many make a conscious decision to end their lives, with the obvious method of checking out being to OD on your pain meds. It's quick, it's easy, it's available and it's ruled accidental.
Well, everyone has an opinion, right?
So, today I'm driving along, about to park my car, when the phone rings. I glanced down and saw that it was a Washington DC phone number calling. The first thing the caller did when I answered was to screw up my difficult-to-pronounce last name, a sure sign the caller didn't know me. The conversation went thusly:
"Hello"
"Mister, uh, Paul,er, mister go-gruntfunker, er mister gooey..."
"Whose calling, please?"
"The White House"
"I'm sorry, who?"
"The White House, sir."
"Get outta town! Who is this?"
"It's the White House, sir."
"I don't have time for this nonsense." click (disconnect)
about 30 seconds later, rrrrinnngggg
"Hello"
"Hello Paul, this is Mr. Smith, I'm with the presidential staff and I'm calling about the letter you wrote to the president last week. Please don't hang up, sir."
"Seriously, you work for the President of the United States?"
"Yes, Sir. And I'm calling you about the letter you wrote to the president last week. You do remember the letter you wrote, don't you?"
"Well, yes, of course." The fact is, I write to the White House regularly about different issues and I didn't have a clue which letter he was talking about.
"Sir, the president read your letter and he is interested in your opinion but he also wanted us to make sure that you are getting the pain meds that you need. If you are not, we can fix that."
We went on to discuss the opioid issue and the call lasted seven minutes. What surprised me is that Mr. Smith (not his real name) asked me two or three more times if i was sure that I had access to the meds I need. He said he had to be able to assure the president that I am getting the meds I need.
I don't know about anyone else, but that was certainly the first time a President of the United States ever had someone call up to check on my health. Hyacinth Bucket - eat your heart out!
And that was the second best thing that happened to me today. The best thing, that is way better than a call from the Prez.
I belong or subscribe to a number of organizations and issue advocacy groups that function to bring public attention to and public pressure to bear on the people or organizations that they wish to influence. Some of these organizations can generate 100,000 phone calls to, for example, a Senator, or a million emails per week to every member of the House. I am mostly just a cog in the wheel, but the numbers we are talking about come about one person at a time so every individual is important. Every day I take some time to write letters, make phone calls, sign petitions - yada, yada, yada.
One issue that concerns me is that, with the Drug War waning, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has poked its ugly nose into the pain treatment industry, a certified medical specialty, and what the DEA is terming our new "opioid epidemic". Of course, what the DEA is doing is trying to find a way to remain relevant and to try to convince the legislature that they have been something other than abject failures in the war on drugs. The DEA and now the legislature all have their panties bunched up in knots, which for male DEA agents means they aren't getting any oxygen to their brains. As usual, the DEA has trotted out some bogus statistics about accidental opioid overdose, and how rampant it is.
The DEA is part of the Executive branch of government, and therefor under direct control of the president. A week or so ago the Obama administration was considering making some rule changes, or some such thing, that addressed the new found "opioid epidemic". I wrote a letter to the President and told him my opinion about the DEA interfering in us geezers' medical treatment. I have back problems due to an industrial injury. Sooner or later I will have a minimally invasive type of surgery that should clear up the major source of pain. But getting the surgery approved by the industrial board is time consuming and so, until I have the surgery, I am in constant pain. For this I take pain meds.
The DEA has compiled statistics that show that accidental opioid overdoses have increased significantly in recent years - corresponding with the DEA cracking down on the use of pain meds. They use this statistic to justify cracking down even more. I suggested to the President that the DEA statistics were all wrong, and that many of the overdose deaths were not accidental at all. I explained, from the perspective of experience, how being in constant pain eats at you and how people who are in constant pain for many years can gradually lose their will to live and many make a conscious decision to end their lives, with the obvious method of checking out being to OD on your pain meds. It's quick, it's easy, it's available and it's ruled accidental.
Well, everyone has an opinion, right?
So, today I'm driving along, about to park my car, when the phone rings. I glanced down and saw that it was a Washington DC phone number calling. The first thing the caller did when I answered was to screw up my difficult-to-pronounce last name, a sure sign the caller didn't know me. The conversation went thusly:
"Hello"
"Mister, uh, Paul,er, mister go-gruntfunker, er mister gooey..."
"Whose calling, please?"
"The White House"
"I'm sorry, who?"
"The White House, sir."
"Get outta town! Who is this?"
"It's the White House, sir."
"I don't have time for this nonsense." click (disconnect)
about 30 seconds later, rrrrinnngggg
"Hello"
"Hello Paul, this is Mr. Smith, I'm with the presidential staff and I'm calling about the letter you wrote to the president last week. Please don't hang up, sir."
"Seriously, you work for the President of the United States?"
"Yes, Sir. And I'm calling you about the letter you wrote to the president last week. You do remember the letter you wrote, don't you?"
"Well, yes, of course." The fact is, I write to the White House regularly about different issues and I didn't have a clue which letter he was talking about.
"Sir, the president read your letter and he is interested in your opinion but he also wanted us to make sure that you are getting the pain meds that you need. If you are not, we can fix that."
We went on to discuss the opioid issue and the call lasted seven minutes. What surprised me is that Mr. Smith (not his real name) asked me two or three more times if i was sure that I had access to the meds I need. He said he had to be able to assure the president that I am getting the meds I need.
I don't know about anyone else, but that was certainly the first time a President of the United States ever had someone call up to check on my health. Hyacinth Bucket - eat your heart out!
And that was the second best thing that happened to me today. The best thing, that is way better than a call from the Prez.
