News Release

June 6, 2005

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Making Healers into Dealers: How the DEA Is Treating Doctors as Criminals
Congress should end persecution of doctors who prescribe painkillers

WASHINGTON - Over the past few years, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has been aggressively targeting doctors who prescribe pain medication such as OxyContin to their patients, according to new study released today by the Cato Institute. As a result, the agency has ruined the lives and careers of many physicians, and made it more difficult for people in pain to get treatment.

In the study "Treating Doctors as Drug Dealers: The DEA's War on Prescription Painkillers," Ronald T. Libby, a professor at the University of North Florida, argues that the government's aggressive pursuit of pain doctors has led to well-meaning physicians being labeled as drug dealers, and accused them of "contributing to the alleged rising tide of prescription drug addition."

Libby rejects the government's claim that targeting doctors is necessary to curb the flow of prescription drugs to the black market. "By demonizing physicians as drug dealers and exaggerating the health risks of pain management, the federal government has made physicians scapegoats for the failed drug war," Libby contends.

"Even worse, the DEA's war on pain doctors has also frightened many physicians out of pain management altogether, exacerbating an already-serious health crisis -- the widespread undertreatment of intractable pain," says Libby. Libby also looks at the recent history of pain treatment and debunks many of the media myths and public fears about opioid medications such as OxyContin, Percocet, and Vicodin.

Libby urges the DEA, the Department of Justice, and Congress to discontinue their war on medical professionals who prescribe narcotics for pain, and instead focus their efforts on combating the smuggling and theft of pain medicine from hospital warehouses, pharmacies, and manufacturing facilities.

The government must allow physicians to "pursue whatever treatment options they feel are in the best interests of their patients."

Policy Analysis no. 545: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3778

Contact:

Greg Garner, media relations manager, 202-789-5263, ggarner@cato.org

Evans Pierre, director of broadcasting, 202-789-5204, epierre@cato.org