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This advertisement appeared in the National Review, the The New Republic, the American Prospect, The Nation, Reason Magazine and The Progressive in the spring of 2004.

PAIN MANAGEMENT IN CRISIS! Alicia Smith took her own life on March 16 because she couldn't stand the chronic pain any longer.1 When federal agents arrested her physician, Dr. William Hurwitz, Alicia couldn't find anyone else willing to prescribe the large dose of opiates she needed to survive. All over the country patients with chronic pain say they are having trouble finding adequate and proper medication. This is a public health catastrophe that cries out for reform. Because prescription medicine now ranks number two among drugs most abused by adults and young people, the federal government plans to dramatically ramp up enforcement, ostensibly going after doctors who do not follow "sound medical practice".2 Doctors have become so gun shy that the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons now advises its doctors not to prescribe opiates at all.3 The medical profession itself is part of the problem. In medical school, doctors get little if any training in pain management, so they either under-medicate or avoid chronic pain patients altogether. Patients with legitimate need for heavy medication, victims - of cancer, bone disease, botched surgery, etc. - seek out those few doctors like William Hurwitz who are willing to help. This raises a red flag for law enforcement since these doctors seem to be prescribing heavy doses for too many patients. DEA officials deny that their campaign has a chilling effect on physicians, saying they take action in only a few hundred cases a year. But the physicians don't see it that way. "It only takes one person to get guillotined for everyone to get the message," says Robert Mills, spokesman for the AMA.4 Pain management specialists should be policed by other pain management specialists - not law enforcement officers. When chronic pain patients become desperate, they inevitably turn to the black market for additional medication, or they are forced to "game the system" by seeking duplicate prescriptions. Congress and the medical profession must work out a solution for the millions of Americans who are living with chronic pain and cannot obtain appropriate relief. Pain management specialists should be policed by other pain management specialists - not law enforcement officers. www.CommonSenseDrugPolicy.org   www.DrugWarFacts.org Mike Gray, Chair; Robert Field, Co-Chair  717-299-0600 1 Not her real name 2 Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2004 Strategy Report 3 Los Angeles Times, Oct. 20, 2003, "Painful Rift" 4 Drug Enforcement Report, Dec. 23, 2003, "DEA Addresses Complaint" info@csdp.org

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		Introduction Supreme Court Justice Questions Marijuana Policy Meet the Drug War Winners and Losers Iraq Vets Victims of the Drug War A Letter to Mom The Blue Ribbon Report Richard Nixon Chose to Bury Good News for Doctors and Pain Patients The Man Who Gave Us the Drug War The Devil Weed and Harry Anslinger Why Not Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Is It Sound Policy to Jail Expectant Mothers A Riveting 12-Minute Documentary Mexico Is Becoming the Next Colombia Suffering from Chronic Pain Another Drug Baby Media Scare Methamphetamine Crisis - Hype Or Fact They're telling the Attorney General to butt out How can judges and jurors dispense justice and mercy without relevant information? Urine drug testing fails at school and work Isn't rewarding achievement the American way? Are we addicted to drug war money? Who says we are winning the drug war? Shafer Commission 30th Anniversary The public is saying 'No More Drug War!' Now we are in a real war . . . isn't it time to abandon the war on ourselves? Is the funding of terrorism another unintended consequence of drug prohibition? Should Coerced Treatment Replace Prison For First Time, Non-Violent Drug Offenders? Change of Tune on drug policy? UK Police End Cannabis Seizures White Kids Use and Sell, Black Kids Go To Prison Time for the Government to Provide Safe Access to Medical Marijuana Annual Causes of Deaths in the US Pregnant Women: Drug War Casualties? Bush Offers Hope Clinton Interview Drug Czar Wanted Voting Rights Drug Courts A Real War in Colombia? What We Know About Ecstasy How We Judge a Fallen Hero Crooked Cops Findings of the British Police Foundation Just Say Not Guilty? The More We Escalate, The More Die Protecting Kids? What Should We Tell Our Kids? Happy Valentine's Day? McCaffrey Resign Drug Problem in Perspective Ending the Drug War Is Popular Time to admit the War on Drugs has failed Mandatory Sentencing is Bad Controlled Access to Heroin Do Drug Laws Focus on the Dangerous Drugs? Arizona Stops Jailing Drug Users We Are Deeply Troubled A Police View on the War on Drugs Dutch Drug Policy Even More Effective Treatment More Effective Than Enforcement It's as Simple as 123 Has the Drug Czar Bought the Media? Compromising Integrity and Prestige? Constitution a Victim of the Drug War? Marijuana Myths/Marijuana Facts Dutch Drug Policy Works Pinocchio McCaffrey