Wesley J. Smith at National Review provides some perspective:
"Some not bright people tragically poison themselves with a fish-tank cleaner because an ingredient in the compound is similar to those in the anti-malaria drugs that anecdotally have helped people deathly ill with coronavirus. Then, Nevada governor Steve Sisolak signs an emergency order preventing the medications’ use treating the virus in Nevada, which certainly seems extreme.
What’s going on? Predictably, the AP story blames Trump:.."
The Star's Op/Ed board can't help but pile onto this manufactured crisis:
"The state could take action to slow hoarding of the drugs and ensure that patients who legitimately need them can still obtain hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine. But the Missouri State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts and the Missouri Board of Pharmacy have failed to enact needed restrictions or regulate bad actors.Hoarding? By whom? Name one. The Star does not - or can not.
The agencies’ less-than-stringent joint recommendation that physicians and pharmacists merely use caution when prescribing and filling requests for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine lacked teeth. And physicians have continued to prescribe the drugs to healthy people.
Only a patient approved by a rheumatologist should be in possession of the drugs. Restrictions could direct that the drugs be prescribed for their intended use, and medical practitioners who failed to adhere to strict limitations would face disciplinary sanctions.
The Lupus Foundation of America and other organizations have asked Vice President Mike Pence to ensure people with lupus continue to have access to their medication.
Amy Ondr, CEO and president of the Foundation’s Heartland Chapter, said officials in Missouri have been unresponsive.
“Lupus patients need to have access to those drugs,” Ondr said.
People with serious and even life-threatening illnesses need these medications. State officials must put a stop to unnecessary hoarding of these prescription drugs."
This is simply tone deaf: “Lupus patients need to have access to those drugs,” Ondr said." Yes, they do. But wouldn't those who are dying from the Wuhan Corona Virus need access, also??
"And physicians have continued to prescribe the drugs to healthy people." How would you know? This confidential doctor / patient info is protected by HEPA laws. Or does fabulism allow media to simply publish 'without evidence' speculation?
Hydroxychloroquine is a class of drug known as 'anti-malarials.' Molecular formula: C18 H26 Cl N3 O. Federal Registry Number: 118-42-3 (CAS). It's been around a long time. Hydroxychloroquine is cheap and easily produced. It's prescribed under the brand name 'Plaquenil.' That means, KC Star Ed. Board, IT'S A REGULATED SUBSTANCE - not available to the general public, and only prescribed by medical professionals.
But the Star persisted: "Only a patient approved by a rheumatologist should be in possession of the drugs." Says who? Since Hydroxychloroquine is considered 'malaria drugs' (a term used in your own Op/Ed title), perhaps the law should demand only malaria patients be in possession of the drugs. The recommendations of the Star appear to be those of a confused child suffering from TDS.
We're all dealing with shortages and hardship. Common sense, critical thinking, and cooperation are needed between pharmaceutical companies, medical professionals, regulatory agencies - and yes, you, Media - for our nation to weather this pandemic. So stop it, KC Star editorial board. Stop these hysterical solutions in search of a manufactured crisis. Just stop it!
