Treating Doctors as Drug Dealers: The Drug Enforcement Administration's War on Prescription Painkillers (original) (raw)

The Independent Review, 2006

Abstract

Untreated pain is a serious problem in the United States. Given the difficulties in measuring a condition that is untreated, estimates of the number of people affected vary, but most experts agree that tens of millions of Americans suffer from undertreated or untreated pain. The Society for Neuroscience, the largest organization of brain researchers, estimates that 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain (Hall 1999). The American Pain Foundation, a professional organizations of pain specialists, puts the number at 75 million—50 million from serious chronic pain (pain lasting six months or more) and an additional 25 million from acute pain caused by accidents, surgeries, and injuries. The societal costs associated with untreated and undertreated pain are substantial. In addition to the obvious cost of needless suffering, damages include broken marriages, alcoholism, family violence, absenteeism and job loss, depression, and suicide (American Pain Foundation n.d.). The American...

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