You can no longer escape the evil, grasping tentacles of the American totalitarian police state in any aspect of your life. I got out of the hospital yesterday after having total hip replacement surgery on Thursday (all went well). I left the hospital with a prescription for pain pills from my physician. My wife and I had to drive all around town until the fourth pharmacy we went to could serve us. The problem, as explained by the first pharmacist to turn us down, was that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) limits the amount of pharmaceutical drugs like this that each drug store is permitted to carry.
The DEA probably says this reduces illegal drug use, which is a joke, but another effect is to create cartel profits for the drug stores. It would be illegal and in violation of the antitrust laws for Walgreens, CVS, etc. to conspire to reduce or limit the volume of any drug that they all sell. But the DEA does it for them, reducing the supply and therefore driving up the price.
P.S. What a trip to wake up in a hospital room at 6 AM the morning after major surgery to the sound of a nurse saying “OK, time to take the catheter out!”
11:11 am on January 12, 2015
