State lawmakers in Missouri are debating the passage of a prescription tracking system that could be used to fight the state's opioid epidemic, but at least one Republican lawmaker apparently believes drug addiction can be a blessing in disguise.
According to state Senator Rob Schaaf, one potential benefit of drug addiction is that it kills the undesirables.
On one side is Republican state Senator Rob Schaaf, who once said that when people die of overdoses that “just removes them from the gene pool.”
Schaaf, who is a physician, has squashed legislation in the past six sessions to establish a prescription drug monitoring program, or PDMP. But sensing urgency that the legislation might pass this session, Schaaf introduced his own bill to set up a PDMP that’s unlike those in any other state — a proposal that medical experts have called a “sham.”
Sociopathy aside, critics say Schaaf's bill is a "sham" because it would force doctors to go through a middle man by contacting the state rather than simply looking at a patient's prescription history themselves.
Schaaf says he intends to filibuster an alternative bill working its way through the state legislature that would establish a real PDMP.
Call it a 'God complex' or whatever you want, right wing doctors seem to be more eager than most people to say who should live and who should die.
Needless to say, if congressional Republicans cut Medicaid and eliminate requirements that insurance covers mental health and substance abuse, states like Missouri will be devastated.