queeranarchism:

genderqueerpositivity:

genderqueerpositivity:

Biden Proposal Would Ban Online Prescribing of Certain Drugs

The Biden administration on Friday proposed tighter limits on the online prescription of some medications, including the attention deficit h

MSN

The Biden administration on Friday proposed tighter limits on the online prescription of some medications, including the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug Adderall and highly addictive opioids such as oxycodone, a partial reversal of policy changes made during the coronavirus pandemic.

The new regulations, which would require health care providers to have at least one in-person visit with patients before prescribing or refilling certain drugs, would take effect after the public health emergency for Covid ends on May 11, the Drug Enforcement Administration said in a statement.

The proposal will undergo a 30-day period of public comment, after which the D.E.A. will issue a final rule, the agency said.

Heads up: If you started testosterone (a schedule III controlled substance) via telehealth during the pandemic and you’ve never seen your provider in person, the Biden administration is probably going to fuck you over later this year.

Go to the link below for more info:

DEA Announces Proposed Rules for Permanent Telemedicine Flexibilities

DEA

There is a link at the bottom you can follow to submit a comment on the proposal (but at this time the link doesn’t appear to be working, for me at least).

A lot of folks have pointed out in the tags that this is also going to be terrible for people with chronic illnesses; telehealth is a great tool for accessing care for those who struggle with accessing care in person. Also, covid isn’t gone simply because the government has decided that the emergency is over, and this change will reduce access to care for people who are immunocompromised. This also sucks for people with ADHD who rely on telehealth to access treatment.

I did also see that someone tagged this post with a comment saying that this will “reduce access to T and E” and I just want to point out that that is not the case. Estrogen is not a controlled substance and would not be affected by this potential change at all. Let’s be honest and specific about who would be affected by this: trans men, transmasculine people, and nonbinary people on testosterone.

Additionally, the DEA link above clarifies that this would not affect telehealth access to birth control, antibiotics, or insulin. If your medication is not a controlled substance you would not be affected by this change. If your medication is a controlled substance, but you’ve previously had an in-person appointment with your provider or were referred by a different provider who you have seen in person, you wouldn’t be affected either.

Anyway, this isn’t yet official policy and I encourage everyone to spread this and take advantage of the 30 day period to submit a comment.

Yeah, like, who needs opiods? People with chronic pain do. Who is going to struggle with visiting a doctor in person? People with chronic pain. Fuck this.

Also, what the fuck does the Biden administration happens when you restrict access to a bunch of addictive painkillers? It’s like they’re actively trying to drive more people to access medication through unofficial channels, resulting in more criminalization of chronic pain and more of addiction and less safety.

Anyway, you can check whether your medication is a controlled substance here: https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/schedules/orangebook/c_cs_alpha.pdf

Keep in mind that this is a list of individual substances your meds might be a combination of substances. Testosterone is categorized as an anabolic steroid, so that’s a controlled substance in all cases (which fucking sucks).