Posted by shelliR on September 19, 2001, at 20:16:27
In reply to Re: Posting policy, posted by Dr. Bob on September 19, 2001, at 17:45:37
Dr. Bob, I continue to hold to my opinion that almost all information is useful, in some way or another, as long as it is provided *as* information. So I remain in favor of not censoring the names of places where medication is available.
Several weeks ago someone who had returned from France to live in the US was finding it impossible to have anyone prescribe buprenorphine to her husband, although that was the medication he had been given in France. I gave her a online site where it was available, because it made more sense for her husband to continue with the success of that medication than it did to stop the drug because doctors here are reluctant to prescribe it. I have no guilty conscience and hope that that person was able to get the drug. (and live happily ever after, whatever :-) )
Insurance is a major issue in this debate, particularly in this country ; (I am not familar with stats in other countries.)
In the 1998 U.S. Census reports, 25.2% of all households earning less than $25,000 a year do not have health insurance.
Insurance is astronomically expensive. You've got to be dirt poor to qualify for medical assistance; folks earning minimum wage would generally not quality for any assistance. And it is a personal decision, even if one can afford insurance, how much they are willing to give up in their lives to pay the high premiums. So, I guess I see allowing sites to be listed where people can get presciptions without a physician, in a small sense a bit of a leveler. There is not equal access to physicians in this country; especially those with an expertise in psychopharmocology.I am convinced that psychobabble, with both it's information and it's resources contributes to the well-being of both it's participants and hundreds of lurkers, soaking up the information without our direct knowledge. And I think that this issue is arising now, not out of a philosophical concerns, but out of the controversy surrounding one poster.
Nevertheless, it *has* come up and if you don't feel comfortable with the sites posted then you should base your decision on that. If you decide in that direction, (and I'm hopeful that you won't) there will still be posters who ask for sites and give out their e-mail addresses so they will get the information anyway, I imagine. And I hope that will be okay?
Shelli
poster:shelliR
thread:2069
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20010718/msgs/2096.html