Clamp down on drugs harms some pain patients

Regarding The Herald Editorial Board’s repeated calls to raise criminal penalties for users of illegal opioids (and other so-called “hard drugs” including the relatively benign hallucinogen class): has it occurred to it that many people who turned to black-market fentanyl are legitimate pain patients who were denied proper pain medication because of the opioid hysteria of recent years?

As an arthritis sufferer for decades, I’ve seen the powerfully effective opioid pills become virtually impossible to obtain from mainstream local clinics. Instead, I’ve been told by providers in recent years to attend physical therapy multiple times a week or take muscle relaxers (neither of which cure arthritis and only indirectly and temporarily reduce pain).

A similar thing happened with fast-acting benzodiazepine tranquilizers that used to be easy to get: I’m now told to instead to take daily antidepressants/mood flatteners for a handful of panic attacks a year because they don’t want me to become addicted.

I’m 61 years old, in daily pain, and feel I’ve earned the right to legally take whatever drugs I want in whatever quantities I want; all of which I’ve used multiple times and survived.

The political right is constantly advocating for their freedom to own any gun they like and the left about unfettered abortion access, but where are they on this issue of personal autonomy?

Jack Burcham

Arlington