A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

24 February 2017

Why are MT’s Dem legislators so anti-painkiller and pro dirty milk?

dem_skull

Update, 27 February. HB-409 was defeated 47-50 on its third reading on Saturday. Three state representatives were absent.

Original post begins here. Why are so many Democrats in Montana’s House of Representatives so cruel and irresponsible on health care and public health?

Earlier this week, 13 Democrats joined their Republican counterparts to whoop HB-325, which legalizes sales of raw milk, an unhealthy substance, through the House.

Today, 35 Democrats, including both Democrats representing the Flathead, Zac Perry and Dave Fern, voted for HB-409, Rep. Zach Brown’s (D-Bozeman) heartless — and unnecessary, absolutely unnecessary — bill to make it much more difficult to obtain opioid painkillers. Or as a friend put it, to find relief in the arms of Mother Morphine.

These bite the bullet Democrats were joined by 18 Republicans, only one of whom, Rep. Derek Skees (R-Lakeside), was from the Flathead.

These Democrats are willing to let their fellow Montanans, including children too small to protect themselves from science rejecting parents, drink unpasteurized milk — and they are willing to let people suffer pain by placing draconian restrictions on prescribing opioids.

Why? Why are these Democrats — all of whom, I suspect, decry the Republican Party’s denial of science — so eager to weaken public health protections and deny pain relief to the afflicted? Why are these Democrats being so stupid and cruel? Why? Why do they think the world is better when people are sick from raw milk and groaning in agony because they can’t get the painkillers they deserve. It makes absolutely no sense.