Viagra for Sex Offenders: The Trend that's Sweeping the Nation.
Last week, Austinist mentioned a story covered in the Statesman and local news that almost 200 convicted sex offenders in the state of Texas had received Viagra prescriptions, funded by taxpayers through Medicaid. On Friday, the state passed an immediate ban on anyone receiving Viagra prescriptions through Medicaid. According to the Statesman:
The change in Medicaid policy came on the same day Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said that at least two of the 191 registered sex offenders who received the erectile dysfunction drugs at taxpayer expense committed new sex crimes after they were prescribed the medication.
Now here's a weird coincidence. We were looking at Gawker this morning, and noticed a link to this story in the New York Post which says that on May 23, NY Gov. George Pataki banned Viagra for the state's paroled sex offenders (all of them, not just those who get Viagra from with Medicaid benefits) after an audit revealed that 198 sex offenders in that state had been getting Viagra at the taxpayers' expense.
Austinist is opposed to sex offenders, doubly so to sex offenders on Viagra. That being said, isn't this weird? Why the sudden persecution of perverts? Can any readers shed some light on this trend?
