In all 50 states, federal raids can still close down pain clinics and errant pain management physicians who prescribe large doses of opioids, highly effective, legal pain killers made from opium or synthetics with the properties of opiate narcotics.
Dr. Joel Hochman, director of the National Foundation for the Treatment of Pain in Houston, says the drug-war hysteria is making it too risky for many doctors to accept patients in chronic pain and that, with help from the media, federal raids on so called "pain mills" paint a false picture that the streets are awash in drugs carelessly handed out by unprincipled doctors.
Instead, he claims, these clinics provide last-resort care to largely uninsured or underinsured blue-collar and other limited-income workers, many with work-related injuries, who can only afford a five-minute visit at high volume, low-cost, low-profit clinics.
To stay in business these clinics must see 60 to 100 patients each day. With this level of traffic, doctors can make errors and patients can lie about their aliments -- making the clinics easy targets for federal agents. But since these clinics provide valuable medical services, Hochman says law enforcement policies are misdirected. His bottom line is: "Wake up America. The dope lords are making billions. The little pain clinics in the strip shopping centers sure aren't."
Here is a rare opportunity for elected officials in Pennsylvania and in Washington to take a long, hard look at how harsh drug laws are undermining medical care. For millions of people desperately coping with chronic aliments, let's not waste it.
RONALD FRASER, Ph.D., works for the DKT Liberty Project[/URL].:hubba:
Dr. Joel Hochman, director of the National Foundation for the Treatment of Pain in Houston, says the drug-war hysteria is making it too risky for many doctors to accept patients in chronic pain and that, with help from the media, federal raids on so called "pain mills" paint a false picture that the streets are awash in drugs carelessly handed out by unprincipled doctors.
Instead, he claims, these clinics provide last-resort care to largely uninsured or underinsured blue-collar and other limited-income workers, many with work-related injuries, who can only afford a five-minute visit at high volume, low-cost, low-profit clinics.
To stay in business these clinics must see 60 to 100 patients each day. With this level of traffic, doctors can make errors and patients can lie about their aliments -- making the clinics easy targets for federal agents. But since these clinics provide valuable medical services, Hochman says law enforcement policies are misdirected. His bottom line is: "Wake up America. The dope lords are making billions. The little pain clinics in the strip shopping centers sure aren't."
Here is a rare opportunity for elected officials in Pennsylvania and in Washington to take a long, hard look at how harsh drug laws are undermining medical care. For millions of people desperately coping with chronic aliments, let's not waste it.
RONALD FRASER, Ph.D., works for the DKT Liberty Project[/URL].:hubba:
