peter h. proctor

..
The local drug warriers went after the head of the pain clinic
at MD Anderson, arguably the worlds foremost cancer hospital. And
my alma mater for my PhD. If they have the hubris to do this,
nobody is safe.

The subsequent outrage caused the Texas legislature to pass a
law specifically allowing physicians to use whatever is
medically-indicated to control cancer pain. My mom benefited from
this in her final days.... Sometimes all we docs have to offer is
palliation.

The head of the Anderson pain clinic subsequently offered to
send a couple of his assistants to educate the local DEA on new
developments in pain control. In return, the local agent in charge
offered to send _his_ agents to tell the MD Anderson docs how it
should be done.

This sitiuation remionds me of the relationship between the
KGB and the scientific community in Stalinist Russia. Solzhitsin
talks about the kick a secret policeman right off the farm got from
being able to bully the pointy-headed academic types.... Power is a
drug too.

Dr P

jasbird

War on Legal Drugs Ensnares Doctors Instead of Dealers; AAPS Announces
National Campaign to Cooperate with DEA

6/26/03 5:22:00 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: National Desk

Contact: Kathryn Serkes, 202-333-3855, for the Association of American
Physicians & Surgeons; E-mail: kaserkes@att.net Web:
http://www.aapsonline.org

TUCSON, Ariz., June 26 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Arizona medical
community was shocked by the recent indictment of Tucson physician
Jeri Hassman, M.D., on charges stemming from her prescribing of legal
pain relief for her patients.

On the eve of her July trial date and prison term up to 28 years if
convicted, a national physicians' group announced its support for Dr.
Hassman, explaining that this is a national disgrace -- doctors
throughout the country are being targeted by egregious law enforcement
for helping patients manage crippling pain with controlled, legal
drugs.

Speaking at a news conference at Dr. Hassman's Tucson offices, Jane M.
Orient, M.D., executive director of the Association of American
Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), explaining why AAPS has decided toe
support Dr. Hassman and kicked off a national campaign to work with
law enforcement. "Throughout the United States, physicians are being
threatened, impoverished, delicensed, and imprisoned for prescribing
in good faith with the intention of relieving pain," said Dr. Orient,
who was joined by more than a dozen of Dr. Hassman's patients and
several other physicians who took time away from their practices to
show their support.

"The 'War on Drugs' has come to mean a war on lawful drugs also -- and
against the doctors who prescribe them and the patients who take them.
Prosecutors make careers out of high-publicity cases involving the hot
'drug du jour' such as OxyContin," said Dr. Orient. "But this war is
causing enormous collateral damage and deaths from 'friendly fire.'
Physicians have been drummed out of practice, sent to jail, and even
been driven to suicide in the face of these 21st century witch hunts.
"These doctors are actually heroes who are treating patients at great
personal risk. If this continues, not one doctor will be willing to
prescribe the drugs that patients so desperately need," warned Dr.
Orient.

The real problem is not drugs, but drug misuse. All physicians are
against drug abuse. Drugs are dangerous and must be treated with
respect. Yet to many patients, drugs are life-saving. To stop the
misuse of prescribed drugs-without depriving patients of life-saving
medication-requires cooperation between law enforcement and
physicians, not persecutions and prosecutions.

Even though her prosecution is unwarranted, Dr. Hassman hasn't been
content to play the victim, and instead worked with AAPS to develop a
national campaign to help solve the problems. "In the past, the agents
of the DEA and the doctors who treat those with chronic pain have
worked at cross purposes," explained Dr. Hassman. "Instead of this
antagonistic arrangement between the DEA and the doctors; the DEA and
the doctors need to work TOGETHER. There needs to be open
COMMUNICATION and 100 percent COOPERATION between these two groups."

Dr. Orient unveiled the AAPS three-point "Communicate and Cooperate"
campaign, as well as specific recommendations for prosecutors to halt
the destructive pattern of prosecutions. "Law enforcement agents are
using deceitful tactics employed to snare doctors, and prosecutors'
manipulate the legal system to frighten doctors and patients who might
be willing to testify on behalf of the wrongfully accused doctors,"
said Dr. Orient. For example, she explained that law enforcement send
undercover actors to doctors to feign pain and beg for drugs.

Several of the patients spoke about the debilitating pain they suffer,
and problems finding doctors to treat them now than Dr. Hassman's
license to write prescriptions has been suspended, while the
physicians confirmed the atmosphere of fear and intimidation in which
they now practice.

"Physicians and pharmacies report potential 'drug-seeking' patients to
law enforcement, yet are never advised by law enforcement which
patients it believes are 'drug seekers' trying to take advantage of
physicians or pharmacies," said Dr. Hassman. "Currently, communication
is only flowing in one direction."

Dr. Orient also pointed out that law enforcement uses outmoded norms
for assessing "excessive" prescribing. "Investigators frequently look
at the volume and duration of drug use as the primary trigger for an
indictment. This is no longer appropriate, as accepted treatment has
changed, and leads to indictments of pain specialists simply due to
the volume of their prescriptions."

She added, "In the art of medicine, investigators must be able to
distinguish between a difference of opinion in what is proper
treatment, and specific criminal intent. We're willing to help them
review possible case."

"The DEA could pull the plug on most drug diversion by working with
doctors, instead of against them. We hope this is a start," concluded
Dr. Orient.

"PROJECT: COMMUNICATE & COOPERATE"

-- Work together to track and report potential drug abusers.

-- Joint medical/legal reviews of potential cases before charges are
filed.

-- Mutual training to advise law enforcement of current trends and
cutting edge treatments.

(Details of the "Communicate and Cooperate" 3-point plan and
recommendations for legal reforms are posted on the AAPS website at
http://www.aapsonline.org.)

NOTE: The Association of American Physicians & Surgeons is a
non-partisan professional association of physicians in all
specialties, dedicated since 1943 to protection of the
patient-physician relationship. AAPS is dues supported, and accepts no
government funding, or pharmaceutical or other corporate underwriting.

© 2003 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770

andy katz

Who knows ... maybe as the current crop of drug war hotspurs ages and
starts to develop life-threatening and terminal conditions they'll see
things from the other side. 'Course by then it'll be too late.

Andy Katz
____________________________________
I sentence you to kiss my ass!

The Simpsons


amk@interport.net
Andrewk271@aol.com

Bastard Nation
http://www.bastards.org

peter h. proctor

..
The local drug warriers went after the head of the pain clinic
at MD Anderson, arguably the worlds foremost cancer hospital. And
my alma mater for my PhD. If they have the hubris to do this,
nobody is safe.

The subsequent outrage caused the Texas legislature to pass a
law specifically allowing physicians to use whatever is
medically-indicated to control cancer pain. My mom benefited from
this in her final days.... Sometimes all we docs have to offer is
palliation.

The head of the Anderson pain clinic subsequently offered to
send a couple of his assistants to educate the local DEA on new
developments in pain control. In return, the local agent in charge
offered to send _his_ agents to tell the MD Anderson docs how it
should be done.

This sitiuation remionds me of the relationship between the
KGB and the scientific community in Stalinist Russia. Solzhitsin
talks about the kick a secret policeman right off the farm got from
being able to bully the pointy-headed academic types.... Power is a
drug too.

Dr P

jasbird

War on Legal Drugs Ensnares Doctors Instead of Dealers; AAPS Announces
National Campaign to Cooperate with DEA

6/26/03 5:22:00 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: National Desk

Contact: Kathryn Serkes, 202-333-3855, for the Association of American
Physicians & Surgeons; E-mail: kaserkes@att.net Web:
http://www.aapsonline.org

TUCSON, Ariz., June 26 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Arizona medical
community was shocked by the recent indictment of Tucson physician
Jeri Hassman, M.D., on charges stemming from her prescribing of legal
pain relief for her patients.

On the eve of her July trial date and prison term up to 28 years if
convicted, a national physicians' group announced its support for Dr.
Hassman, explaining that this is a national disgrace -- doctors
throughout the country are being targeted by egregious law enforcement
for helping patients manage crippling pain with controlled, legal
drugs.

Speaking at a news conference at Dr. Hassman's Tucson offices, Jane M.
Orient, M.D., executive director of the Association of American
Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), explaining why AAPS has decided toe
support Dr. Hassman and kicked off a national campaign to work with
law enforcement. "Throughout the United States, physicians are being
threatened, impoverished, delicensed, and imprisoned for prescribing
in good faith with the intention of relieving pain," said Dr. Orient,
who was joined by more than a dozen of Dr. Hassman's patients and
several other physicians who took time away from their practices to
show their support.

"The 'War on Drugs' has come to mean a war on lawful drugs also -- and
against the doctors who prescribe them and the patients who take them.
Prosecutors make careers out of high-publicity cases involving the hot
'drug du jour' such as OxyContin," said Dr. Orient. "But this war is
causing enormous collateral damage and deaths from 'friendly fire.'
Physicians have been drummed out of practice, sent to jail, and even
been driven to suicide in the face of these 21st century witch hunts.
"These doctors are actually heroes who are treating patients at great
personal risk. If this continues, not one doctor will be willing to
prescribe the drugs that patients so desperately need," warned Dr.
Orient.

The real problem is not drugs, but drug misuse. All physicians are
against drug abuse. Drugs are dangerous and must be treated with
respect. Yet to many patients, drugs are life-saving. To stop the
misuse of prescribed drugs-without depriving patients of life-saving
medication-requires cooperation between law enforcement and
physicians, not persecutions and prosecutions.

Even though her prosecution is unwarranted, Dr. Hassman hasn't been
content to play the victim, and instead worked with AAPS to develop a
national campaign to help solve the problems. "In the past, the agents
of the DEA and the doctors who treat those with chronic pain have
worked at cross purposes," explained Dr. Hassman. "Instead of this
antagonistic arrangement between the DEA and the doctors; the DEA and
the doctors need to work TOGETHER. There needs to be open
COMMUNICATION and 100 percent COOPERATION between these two groups."

Dr. Orient unveiled the AAPS three-point "Communicate and Cooperate"
campaign, as well as specific recommendations for prosecutors to halt
the destructive pattern of prosecutions. "Law enforcement agents are
using deceitful tactics employed to snare doctors, and prosecutors'
manipulate the legal system to frighten doctors and patients who might
be willing to testify on behalf of the wrongfully accused doctors,"
said Dr. Orient. For example, she explained that law enforcement send
undercover actors to doctors to feign pain and beg for drugs.

Several of the patients spoke about the debilitating pain they suffer,
and problems finding doctors to treat them now than Dr. Hassman's
license to write prescriptions has been suspended, while the
physicians confirmed the atmosphere of fear and intimidation in which
they now practice.

"Physicians and pharmacies report potential 'drug-seeking' patients to
law enforcement, yet are never advised by law enforcement which
patients it believes are 'drug seekers' trying to take advantage of
physicians or pharmacies," said Dr. Hassman. "Currently, communication
is only flowing in one direction."

Dr. Orient also pointed out that law enforcement uses outmoded norms
for assessing "excessive" prescribing. "Investigators frequently look
at the volume and duration of drug use as the primary trigger for an
indictment. This is no longer appropriate, as accepted treatment has
changed, and leads to indictments of pain specialists simply due to
the volume of their prescriptions."

She added, "In the art of medicine, investigators must be able to
distinguish between a difference of opinion in what is proper
treatment, and specific criminal intent. We're willing to help them
review possible case."

"The DEA could pull the plug on most drug diversion by working with
doctors, instead of against them. We hope this is a start," concluded
Dr. Orient.

"PROJECT: COMMUNICATE & COOPERATE"

-- Work together to track and report potential drug abusers.

-- Joint medical/legal reviews of potential cases before charges are
filed.

-- Mutual training to advise law enforcement of current trends and
cutting edge treatments.

(Details of the "Communicate and Cooperate" 3-point plan and
recommendations for legal reforms are posted on the AAPS website at
http://www.aapsonline.org.)

NOTE: The Association of American Physicians & Surgeons is a
non-partisan professional association of physicians in all
specialties, dedicated since 1943 to protection of the
patient-physician relationship. AAPS is dues supported, and accepts no
government funding, or pharmaceutical or other corporate underwriting.

© 2003 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770

guidosjunkmail@yahoo.com (guido

<snip>

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA... Well - I feel sorry for Dr. Hassman. She appears
to be a compassionate physician who is woefully naive. I suspect that
this naivete will be her undoing. The guys at the DEA are not
interested in working with physicians. They are interested in
arresting and prosecuting as many people as possible. Dr. Hassman
needs to realize that NOBODY at the DEA has ever been promoted for
"working with doctors who treat those with chronic pain". However,
lots and lots of people have been promoted for making high-profile
arrests, and sending people to jail. The actual guilt or innoncence
of those people is irrelevant.

She appears to be operating under the delusion that people working for
the DEA have a sliver of compassion and a shred of decency in them.
No doubt she will shortly be disabused of these quaint notions.

Guido

eric johnson

David Crosby is about as bad as you can get, except for Hugh Heffner. What
is the problem. Crosby looks a lot like Wilford Brimley to me.


EJ

guidosjunkmail@yahoo.com (guido

<snip>

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA... Well - I feel sorry for Dr. Hassman. She appears
to be a compassionate physician who is woefully naive. I suspect that
this naivete will be her undoing. The guys at the DEA are not
interested in working with physicians. They are interested in
arresting and prosecuting as many people as possible. Dr. Hassman
needs to realize that NOBODY at the DEA has ever been promoted for
"working with doctors who treat those with chronic pain". However,
lots and lots of people have been promoted for making high-profile
arrests, and sending people to jail. The actual guilt or innoncence
of those people is irrelevant.

She appears to be operating under the delusion that people working for
the DEA have a sliver of compassion and a shred of decency in them.
No doubt she will shortly be disabused of these quaint notions.

Guido

eric johnson

David Crosby is about as bad as you can get, except for Hugh Heffner. What
is the problem. Crosby looks a lot like Wilford Brimley to me.


EJ

andy katz

Who knows ... maybe as the current crop of drug war hotspurs ages and
starts to develop life-threatening and terminal conditions they'll see
things from the other side. 'Course by then it'll be too late.

Andy Katz
____________________________________
I sentence you to kiss my ass!

The Simpsons


amk@interport.net
Andrewk271@aol.com

Bastard Nation
http://www.bastards.org