Is the Drug Enforcement Administration scaring doctors away from treating pain aggressively? Bioethicist Wesley J. Smith discusses recent reports on the DEA’s aggressive pursuit of doctors who subscribe pain medication for chronic pain sufferers. The perception by doctors that the DEA is “gunning” for those who may over prescribe, which according to Smith can result in a lamentable deterence to the proper alleviation of pain. Legislation to help ease this tension and provide a solution has been caught up in the debata over assisted suicide with supporters of doctor assisted suicide warning that such legislation threatens Oregon’s assited suicide regime.
