President Obama has signed an executive order instructing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to address a growing shortage of prescription drugs that are used to treat cancer patients, heart attack victims, and other ill people. The shortages have reached record levels and include some of the most commonly used drugs used in hospitals, according to this article. The move raises the question of why there never seem to be any shortages of highly addictive, powerful narcotics with a high potential for abuse. Cancer patients are being shorted on life-saving treatments while commonly diverted drugs like OxyContin are a dime-a-dozen on the streets? Something is seriously wrong with this picture.
