Question by hannah: Doctor refused to prescribe my father pain meds because he smokes pot?
[rewrite]My father has split discs in his back along with severe arthritis. He walks bent over half the time because he is in so much pain. That being said, he is also an alcoholic and has been to rehab a few times throughout his life for alcohol and drug abuse. He does double or sometimes even triple his prescription. He says it’s because he needs more to get through the pain. I don’t want to say he’s not in a severe amount of pain every day, because I know he is – but I also know that he likes getting high too. So anyway he went to a new doctor a few weeks ago and was honest and said that he smokes pot once or twice a week – and she was very judgmental about it, sort of rightfully so since he has issues with addiction. He went back today per her request and she told him that she would not prescribe him any pain medication because he smokes marijuana. I do understand where she is coming from – she thinks he is abusing the drugs, which he does sometimes. My question is what can he do? It is a double edged sword because he is an addict but also does suffer from excruciating pain daily.. I am 21 years old and just don’t want to see my 52 year old father in so much pain. We live in NY. I dont know if there are any non addictive pain medications or … maybe some kind of physical therapy or …. ?????
He is on medicaid – there are only certain doctors he can go to – and this is his 2nd doctor. His other doctor refused further treatment because my dad couldn’t afford his copays. He is on disability.
slipped discs** not split, oops.
MellowTones – thanks – yes, my dad could be lying to me – but I did research a little and there are a lot of people who say they are going through the same thing – their doctors stop prescribing them pain meds because they admit to smoking pot. I would completely understand if the doctor stopped treatment because they feared he was abusing the pain meds – but it just baffles me (if it’s true) that a doctor would actually stop prescribing pain medication because the patient smokes marijuana. Surely and legitimate doctor realizes that marijuana is pretty much medically harmless…. and actually is beneficial for his pain.
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