[Jeff Higgins]

My heart goes out to the surviving family. What a horrible, entirely preventable tragedy.

Don't blame the drug companies. Don't blame the doctors. Don't blame the street addicts. Don't blame the cartels. The blame for this ongoing tragedy, which far too many families have to suffer, lies squarely at the feet of our government regulators, from our legislative bodies to the FDA to licensing boards and others.

Many of you are doctors, so you know. Those of you who are not probably have friends who are. Talk to them if you want to learn what is happening here. All of my friends and family in the various medical professions that would be prescribing opiate based pain medications now live in fear of doing so. They are under intense scrutiny regarding how much they prescribe. Some nameless, faceless bureaucrat decided how much is "too much". With no knowledge of their patient population, of specific patients' needs, or anything. They have, instead, quite literally pulled a number out of their ass. Exceed that and you will lose your license. Even bump up against it, and you will land on their "watch list".

Some states (mine included, I'm told) have gone so far as to institute a policy wherein the top "X" percentage of prescribers do lose their licenses every year. No one wants to bubble up to the top of that list.

So patients will real needs suffer. Better they suffer than to put one's license at risk. And talk about the law of unintended consequences - in our various regulatory agencies' and legislative bodies' zeal to curb street drug use by this intense scrutiny on medical professionals, they are driving patients will very real needs to... street drugs. And they are dying. Crazy world we live in.

Sorry about your old partner, Zeke. And sorry to get kinda PARF-y, but this really sorta is.