Posts Tagged With: dea

[Dr. Johnston's] case offers the Obama DOJ the rare chance to reaffirm the architectural structure of our federal system by joining in the PRN’s 10th Amendment-based request for a full hearing by the court. [Reynolds:] “The Administration can also show substantive empathy right away, for the 50 million Americans in pain currently being denied pain treatment by doctors terrorized by the [DEA]. These desperate Americans shouldn’t be made to wait for the President to appoint a new justice.”

Dr. Sharon Johnston comes to this Court having been convicted of a crime that does not exist, by a court without jurisdiction to enter a conviction, and affirmed by a court that did not confirm that it had jurisdiction to do so and – worse yet – blatantly attempted to “bury” its decision through depublication… This entire proceeding has been indelibly painted with the bright and unmistakable color of unconstitutional outcome-driven caprice.

Maybe we all deserve the pain. If we are too stupid to understand that aspirin kills way more people than morphine, and that there are a whole lot worse things for you and your damn Federal prosecutors to worry about than if maybe your neighbor is getting too much pain relief (sheesh!) – if you are that effin stupid then maybe you deserve the chronic pain which YOUR government has already imposed on you and your children as the defacto law of the land.

Shaygan’s attorney Markus discovered that govt prosecutors authorized two witnesses to surreptitiously record conversations with the defense team and attempt to bribe Markus, and failed to disclose that the witnesses were paid, confidential informants for the DEA. U.S. District Judge Gold said there were “flagrant violations” of basic rules by Shaygan’s prosecutors, and that “important safeguards were not met.” An order from Gold is expected in a few weeks.

Wow. To win acquittal on federal drug trafficking charges is very difficult and very rare, as I have [discussed before][rm]. A resounding win is almost unheard of. I will be very interested in the outcome of the prosecutorial misconduct case being brought by Dr. Shaygan’s defense attorney, Mr. Markus.

I am very glad to see physicians, who have themselves been savaged by the government, publishing their stories. Consider Dr. Jackson’s article, Conviction without a Crime, to be a companion piece to Dr. Rottschaefer’s article discussed in the previous item here, The Criminal Criminal Justice System. Together these two articles will give the reader a good sense, I think, of the utter breakdown of professional ethics, common sense, and fairness in any case involving controlled substances.

criticisms and description of federal prosecutorial behavior rings true to me from my experience and knowledge of war on docs/pain crisis cases. Our justice system is withering, ‘the drugs exception to the Bill of Rights’ has gone from being a tragic lawyers joke to business as usual, and we now routinely apply asset forfeiture and RICO laws, intended by Congress to combat drug cartels, to individual pain-treating physicians. Doctors and sick people are easy, profitable prey for law enforcement and federal prosecutors pandering to the electorate through a media willing to be exploited for their share of the spoils.

There are so many who need opioid pain medications and can not get them… These people have their lives destroyed every day as they drag themselves from doctor to doctor being lied to, verbally and sometimes physically abused, forced into unnecessary rounds of expensive testing… They are sneered at by pharmacists, called addicts by doctors, drug tested, called “frequent-flyers” and other derogatory names by emergency room nurses and doctors, denied reimbursement…

Unrelieved pain has a devastating impact on the physical, emotional, social, and economic well being of patients and their families. Diagnosing and treating pain is, therefore, fundamental to the public health. Terminology is review, myths identified, and medical understanding is stated.

I spoke to Billy’s wife briefly, recently, and am very happy to be able to report that Dr. Hurwitz is no longer in federal prison. He is currently in a half-way house in D.C. and will be transitioning to house arrest as part of his parole and probation requirements… He is in a sort of “titration to house arrest” best I understand it. Meaning, he is starting to get overnight visits with his family – YEA! – and more and more of that till he sort of “stabilizes” on a regimen of maintenance house arrest. (Is house arrest a substitution therapy for …

Update on the case of USA v Dr. Martinez in Washington state. Martinez has been acquitted of all drug crime charges. The fraud charges remaining after her 2007 fed trial have also been dismissed, but the govt can bring the fraud charges anew. Also examined is a recent Yakima Herald article announcing “new” charges that are not, in any reality-based sense, “new” at all.

Experts: Untreated pain as serious a problem drug abuse. By Tristan Scott of the Missoulian. With the specter of prescription drug abuse looming large, health care workers stressed Friday that untreated pain in Montana is a public health crisis commensurate to that of addiction.

Press release from the Competitive Enterprise Institute regarding their Politics of Pain initiative, and video interviews with combat vet chronic pain patient James Fernandez, and with Dr. Alex DeLuca of the Pain Relief Network. CEI Calls for End to DEA Harassment of Pain Doctors.

This Resource Is an article by Dr. Frank Fisher published in the Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin. He recounts his tale of persecution for practicing excellent pain management – a quintessencial example of the War on Doctors and the Pain Crisis in America.

This Resource Is a peer-reviewed analysis of Gonzalez v Oregon. “If the U.S. Attorney General had won this case, DOJ, through the DEA, would have been given the authority to make decisions about the legality of prescriptions in all situations, not just end-of-life care.” After analyzing the Supreme Court decision, Brushwood reviews DEA identification of physicians and pharmacists despite information obtained from a Freedom of Information Act by Joranson documenting DOJ knowledge of massive theft and loss of controlled substances having nothing to do with the doctor – patient relationship. He also reviews the DEA FAQ debacle, the “Myth of …