Dr. Stack Indicted

Dr. Stack Indicted; More Trash Journalism; Alexander DeLuca; War on Doctors/Pain Crisis blog of the Pain Relief Network; 2007-12-13.

In Response To:
Doctor, Assistants Indicted on Drug Charges
Geoffrey Fattah; Deseret Morning News; 2007-12-13
See Also:
Flash Trash: The Arrest of Dr. Stack
and,
Utah / Feds Move Towards Final Solution for Addiction

Geoffrey Fattah does the usual slacker’s job we’ve come to expect from “journalists” covering the war on doctors or any drug war related issue. A few excerpts to give you the gist:

“‘This, at its heart, is a case of a drug dealer,’ said Salt Lake County Sheriff James Winder. …

“DEA agent Frank Smith said Stack’s reputation on the street, combined with the large amount of prescriptions he wrote, prompted DEA to send several undercover agents to his office.

“Stack was arrested in May for investigation of dealing large quantities of narcotic pain killers to people without a legitimate medical reason.”

And so on. No cognizance we’ve only heard one side of the story so far, that Warren Stack is innocent until proven guilty. This isn’t journalism, it’s a press release for the government.

Thus far no journalist has done anything except parrot whatever law enforcement or the prosecutors say. In May 2007 this blog analyzed the reportage from another bastion of the free press, the Salt Lake City Tribune. Those puppies WAY jumped the shark! [See: Flash Trash: The Arrest of Dr. Stack for starters.]

Nor does the press bother to provide any context beyond the usual prescription drug abuse hysteria which is, again, the government’s line.

U.S. Attorney for Utah Brett Tolman said the case has left a trail of people who are now drug addicts, adding with prescription drug abuse on the rise in Utah, his office is taking a strong stance against medical professionals dispensing narcotics without justification.

Sure, Brett - we heard all about those “millions of doses of painkillers” (gasp!) and the “new crime wave” you prosecutors predicted when you all shamelessly conflated dependence with addiction and just casually assumed, for the benefit of the idiot press, that all of Dr. Stack’s patients were criminals. So far the government’s behavior in the case of Dr. Stack has been deceitful, Counselor Tolman, which is par for you guys. That is exactly the only FACT thus far established in the case. [Read all about it: Utah / Feds Move Towards Final Solution for Addiction]

Half a year after Dr. Stack’s arrest, and still no press mention of the well documented crisis of under-treated pain, or the increasingly aggressive attacks on physicians for legitimately treating pain, or the Chilling Effect on the practice of good pain management that inevitably results. (sigh) Half a year later and still no responsible action from the real representatives of the People in matters of medical licensure and standards, the state medical board, who as usual are too busy deferring to their federal masters, the DEA and DOJ, to bother protecting the public health.

My fellow Americans, your right to privacy and an ethical doctor-patient relationship are being attacked in these “war on doctors” prosecutions. Dr. Stack may be venal, but that would make him an exception. [Review over a dozen cases: The War on Pain Sufferers special collections, and I could name another half a dozen good docs whose lives and patients were destroyed by the government with an "initial media smear" identical to the one Dr. Stack is receiving. For example: Dr. Volkman Speaks Out Against DEA in April - Gets Indicted in May]

The pain crisis is more important than Dr. Warren Stack, and since your journalists won’t investigate, you’ll have to do it yourselves.

[END]

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