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War on Drugs
Chronic Pain Sufferers Fight DEA
Posted by Doug on 19 Apr 2004 19:20

Drug War Expands To Sweep Up Patients and Doctors

by Matthew Mernagh

ST. CATHARINES, CANADA - (OfficialWire) - 04/19/04 - The War on Drugs continues to expand as the Drug Enforcement Agency begins to target physicians and chronic pain sufferers whose only crime is treating their agonizing pain. Apparently the sweep on pain docs and their patients began under Attorney General Janet Reno who rounded up physicians she believed over prescribed OxyContin (a.k.a. hillbilly heroin), Vicodin or Dilaudid and "pill heads" those seeking relief by taking high doses and large quantities of strong synthetic opiods (refers to controlled drugs or narcotics most often prescribed for the management of pain). The Dubya regime, naturally, amped up these efforts to pay-per-view levels with Attorney General John Aschroft putting the 'steel toed boots' to those he deems to be abusing narcotics and those who might be aiding and abetting them.

Last year 441 doctors were investigated for their prescription writing practices. Of that number 34 were arrested and charged. The rash of high profile cases has alarmed the medical community and has forced pain patients to organize themselves into a lobbying power. "Doctors operating within the bounds of accepted medical practice have nothing to fear from the DEA," says the agency.

Pain specialists that the DEA deems to be prescribing too much or too many powerful opiods are treated in the same manner as common drug dealers. Agents, wearing flak vests, armed with assault rifles and mean attitudes booted down the door and ransacked the office of Dr. Benjamin Moore. Proving their mean spirited attack on citizens, the agents thought it wise to handcuff an elderly patient who walked with the aid of a walker and Oxygen tank.

Doctors are not immune from the entrapping tactics that the DEA has used unsuccessfully on traditional drug dealers. According to Dr. Randeep Mann, a patient told him the DEA offered her $250 if she said Dr. Mann prescribed her pain killers in exchange for sex. For a sting on the largest pain clinic in Tucson Arizona the DEA employed an under cover 'NARC' and a three time convicted felon. Dr. Jeri Hassman, who ran the clinic, faces a possible 25 year prison sentence. Another doctor, Dr. James Graves is serving a 63 year prison term for prescribing Oxycontin that resulted in the death of a patient.

To combat the new scourge of pain killer prescriptions the DEA is asking that their budget be increased by $20 million. Presently the federal agency budgets $120 million a year to fight what they believe to be rogue doctors and patients.

According to the American Medical Association, approximately 70 million Americans suffer from some form of disabling chronic pain. Many of these sufferers do so silently, a small percentage find relief through their doctor, while those desperately seeking a solution will resort to the black market and acquire meds illegal. There is much speculation in the pain community that former pill-popping right wing commentator Rush Limbaugh was self medicating with his enormous opiod addiction.

With the DEA forcefully shutting down pain management clinics, the patients of these doctors either resort to street purchasing or in some cases commit suicide. While this last option might seem extreme, to a chronic pain sufferer who is in agony and canıt find any relief, suicide looks like a pleasant way out. Dr. Moore was so traumatized by the DEA raid and subsequent charges that he took his own life.
Proving how ridiculous the targeting of pain patients and doctors is, 45 year-old Florida resident Richard Paey faces a 25 year sentence for his massive use of pain killers. Paey couldnıt find a new doctor when he moved from New Jersey to Florida who would treat his severely mangled spine, from an auto accident that has left him in a wheelchair. Aided by a perjured witness, Paey is awaiting sentence in the Pasco County Jail infirmary. He may not have been able to get treatment on the outside for his pain, but doctors have installed a morphine pump to make his stay in the Pasco County Jail all the more pleasant. A pain pump safely administers morphine to the patient, which for the majority of users results in many hours spent in bed as they are too doped up.

With the DEA fearlessly busting heads, pain patients and their advocates have organized themselves and plan on taking their plight to Washington this week. Protests are planned, meetings with congressmen are scheduled, and possibly theyıll get their chance to speak to the head of the DEA, director Karen Tandy. "The DEA war on drugs has turned into war on pain patients and the physicians who treat them," states Virginia Brooks, a chronic pain patient and leader of the National Pain Patients Coalition (NPPC).

"We want the pain reduced," Brooks said in a press release. "I know I can't be free of pain, but can't they at least reduce it? But the doctors say they're scared to do that, so my back gets worse and I end up where I can't walk and I have to be hospitalized. They say pain patients are depressed, then they give us antidepressants that make things worse. They say we're agitated and angry. Well, we are. We're agitated and angry at the system and the DEA. Why do these people without a medical degree get to determine how much medicine we need?"

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http://www.usresolve.org/news_all_headlines.php?dosearch=yes&search_in_archives=TRUE&category=4&category_name=War%20on%20Drugs : Heres a link to other good simular articles.