Cops and doctors

For years, we’ve been following the conflict between doctors prescribing pain medications and the Drug Enforcement Administration, most recently in “Doctors: The new target in the war on drugs?” (Medical Economics, May 19, 2006.)

Now, the death of actor Heath Ledger from an accidental overdose of six pain and anxiety medicines has prompted a former deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration to reexamine this issue and, specifically, the negative impact of DEA actions on doctors and their patients. We think you’ll find what he has to say illuminating.

The death of actor Heath Ledger from an accidental overdose of six pain and anxiety medicines — including the narcotics OxyContin and Vicodin — has prompted warnings about misuse of prescription drugs, which ranks as one of the fastest growing segments of drug abuse. Nobody disputes the problem. But the strategies for tackling it aren’t changing the trends, they are just hobbling doctors and patients, and may retard the development of new medications.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is, sensibly enough, targeting the small number of physicians who inappropriately prescribe drugs in violation of current laws, the “patients” who doctor shop for painkillers and hoard drugs to abuse or sell them, and the criminal diversion of these medications from pharmacies and distribution centers. But the DEA is also trying to influence clinical decisions about when these drugs are prescribed.

Opinion: Cops and Doctors [Via The Wall Street Journal]

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From Medical Economics magazine, more on DEA ...

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