Free Republic

I have to admit I'm impressed by the achievement of the federal prosecutors who call McLean, Va., pain doctor William Hurwitz "a major and deadly drug dealer." Though the evidence at his trial made it clear Dr. Hurwitz was not a drug trafficker, they still managed to get him convicted. The prosecutors did not dispute Dr. Hurwitz had helped hundreds of patients recover their lives by prescribing the high doses of opioids they needed to control their chronic pain. Instead they pointed to the small minority of his patients -- 5 to 10 percent, by his attorneys' estimate -- who...

CONGRESS TACKLES OXYCONTIN A congressional panel announced Thursday that it will begin hearings in February to investigate the growing national epidemic of OxyContin addiction, abuse and overdoses. The first hearing will take place in Orlando. "Just the sheer number of problems related with the drug and the number of deaths have reached epidemic proportions," said Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, who cited a five-part October series on the painkiller in the Orlando Sentinel in making his request for the hearings. Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., chairman of the House Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources subcommittee, said the first hearing...

DRUG WAR HURTING LEGITIMATE PAIN SUFFERERS November 20, 2003 The Kentucky Post By Ronald Fraser The very same federal agency that has repeatedly failed to slow the flow of illegal cocaine from abroad -- with help from its state partners -is now waging an alarmingly successful war against legal prescription drugs here at home. Problem is, the Drug Enforcement Agency's efforts to keep legal drugs off the black market has a nasty side effect. Terrified of DEA and its state counterparts, many hometown physicians no longer give 15 million Americans struggling with chronic pain the medicines they need. In 2002,...

CONTROLLING THE SUBSTANCES Doctors' group blasts administration Claims White House punishing physicians for misdeeds of patients Posted: October 2, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Jon Dougherty © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com A physicians' advocacy group is blasting the Bush administration for its pledge to prosecute physicians even if their patients are responsible for the abuse of pain medications they've been prescribed. "Physicians are being threatened, impoverished, delicensed and imprisoned for prescribing in good faith with the intention of relieving pain," said Kathryn Serkes, a spokeswoman for the Tucson, Arizona-based American Association of Physicians and Surgeons. In a Monday press conference at the...