GOVERNMENT DECIDING PAIN CARE

Re: "Painkiller sales up sharply - Widening use reflected in DEA
statistics has some concerned," Tuesday news story.

According to the American Medical Association, over 50 million
Americans live with pain. This appalling situation exists largely
because it is Drug Enforcement Administration policy to frighten and
intimidate physicians. When a physician suspected of wrongdoing is
arrested, the DEA often bursts into the office, using agents in SWAT gear.

After the conviction of a prominent pain specialist for drug
trafficking, Dr. C. Stratton Hill, president of Texas Cancer Pain
Initiative of Texas, wrote, "Any Texas physician (or any physician
anywhere, for that matter) who treats pain adequately with opioids
needs to have his or her head examined."

The Justice Department is determined that it, not physicians,
caregivers and patients, will determine what medical care is
appropriate and available in this country.

Suzanne Wills

Drug Policy Forum of Texas

Dallas