http://www.slate.com/id/2278244/
Patients in chronic pain cannot get relief, because their doctors are afraid of being prosecuted as drug dealers. In this particular case, Siobhan Reynolds became an advocate for pain relief after her husband died of a painful, debilitating illness. At one point his doctor was convicted of over-prescribing pain medications to other patients.
Even worse, in a case where Reynolds is working to help a different doctor to avoid prosecution, the courts have issued gag orders and required her to provide a data dump at great expense of all her documents relating to remotely similar activities. It appears to me that the prosecution isn't content with enforcing unjust laws, they are using unfair methods to harass opposition.
Some people claiming pain are drug abusers--but some really hurt. There is nowhere near enough justification in leaving pain untreated because someone, somewhere may be getting high.
End the drug war.
I am reminded of a Bloom County cartoon strip from back in the 80s. Bill the Cat and Opus were running for office. A cartel member comes to Opus to find out their stance on the drug war. Opus tentatively gives a mild "tough" on drugs answer, and the cartel guy says something like "That's great. We need more politicians like you to keep our prices high." It was intended to be satirical; however, it's always stuck with me that there is a lot of truth in that. I think we would see a lot less drug violence if we handled drugs just like we handle alcohol.
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