Controlled Substances Quotas
2018-04-23 2018-04-23 2018-04-26 2018-04-27 2018-04-30 2018-05-04 2018-05-04 2018-05-04 2018-05-04 2018-05-04
DEA-2018-0005-0097 DEA-2018-0005-0134 DEA-2018-0005-0577 DEA-2018-0005-0645 DEA-2018-0005-0791 DEA-2018-0005-1325 DEA-2018-0005-1362 DEA-2018-0005-1381 DEA-2018-0005-1423 DEA-2018-0005-1428
04:00:00 04:00:00 04:00:00 04:00:00 04:00:00 04:00:00 04:00:00 04:00:00 04:00:00 04:00:00
https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/DEA-2018-0005-0097 https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/DEA-2018-0005-0134 https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/DEA-2018-0005-0577 https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/DEA-2018-0005-0645 https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/DEA-2018-0005-0791 https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/DEA-2018-0005-1325 https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/DEA-2018-0005-1362 https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/DEA-2018-0005-1381 https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/DEA-2018-0005-1423 https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/DEA-2018-0005-1428
Radene Henry Anonymous Mona Kelly Janice Dawn Lacy Denise Jacqueline
Cook Yennie Anonymous Twocats-romero Devine Anonymous Anonymous F. Farmer Schneider
EDUCATION, NOT PROHIBITION!! I am one of those intractable (aka high impact) pain patients. with severe and complex conditions who are only kept stable by high doses of opioids. Yet lately, because of the random musings of others who begin their diatribes against opioids, as a rule, saying, Im not a Dr. but.... Then off the non-doctors go on ignorant rants about numbers of pills rather knowing one thing about what those numbers of pills are quelling when used properly as ACTUAL doctors who HAVE studied pain know. By focusing on prescription opioids you are not stopping addicts deaths  you are making legitimate pain patients collateral damage in a war that is fighting the wrong enemy.Even the CDC has said as of May of 2017 that PRESCRIPTION OPIOIDS ARE NO LONGER CAUSING THE OVERDOSE DEATHS!! Please hear those of us who are not addicts but are medically using our prescribed opioids properly. One of the things I KNOW is right  true is that doctors are not getting enough education (because no one is waiting for the NIH studies that ONLY started about 3-4 years ago) about pain as a disease rather than a symptom (as called for in the National Academies [formerly the Institute of Medicine] 2011 pain care study Relieving Pain in America:  [link: http://bit.ly/2uA2WtY ]. Because of this failing, we have seen millions being incorrectly prescribed opioids (or not prescribed opioids when needed). Opioids are a tool - thats it. Like guns, they can be used for good or bad. Which is why my motto is EDUCATION, NOT PROHIBITION. As near as March 2017, Dr. Debra Houry of the CDC testified before the Energy and Commerce Committee, Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee stating this: Although prescription opioids were driving the increase in overdose deaths for many years, more recently, the large increase in overdose deaths has been due mainly to increases in heroin and synthetic opioid overdose deaths, not prescription opioids. article entitled CDC: Painkillers No Longer Driving Opioid Epidemic [link: http://bit.ly/2w8W9Gz]Bottom line: If this trajectory of blindly stopping opioid PRESCRIPTIONS from getting to the people who - like me - have severe and complex health histories involving devastating chronic, intractable pain. YOU will be directly responsible for the heart attack and stroke deaths of millions of INNOCENT patients in America who did nothing wrong (who broke no laws, who were not addicts, who followed e-v-e-r-y rule).You and your subordinates will be responsible for their slow and tortuous deaths due to the unnecessary and inhumane forced reduction of these pain patients opioid pain treatments. You can not assign arbitrary numbers pills or milligrams to individualized people with pain conditions anymore than every cookie-cutter treatment works for every diabetic. Or cancer patient. Or thyroid patient.  Please THINK before responding to trouble with a knee jerk response. Thank you.    Hello,I am attaching comments already made by Dr. Richard Lawhern, PhD urging the DEA to stand down on further restrictions on the production of opioid pain medications. I am writing as both an emergency preparedness professional and a chronic pain patient who is able to enjoy a reasonable quality of life because of stable doses of this type of medication. Dr. Lawherns comments make the case much better than I. However, I want to specifically ask the DEA several questions:1. What data is being used to justify further restrictions?2. What is the analytical methodology?3. Who performed the analysis to justify further restrictions?4. What are their qualifications?I am also attaching a study I completed on the number of prescriptions issued in Louisiana in 2015. The annual number of prescriptions is often presented as a shocking statistic by Louisiana government officials to justify further opioid prescription limits. Simply stated, this view is patently indefensible. My simple model has been reviewed as valid by a number of pain management professionals and medical school faculty. Bottom line: The DEA has already caused critical shortages of injectable opioids used in hospitals for pain management before and after surgery. Beyond the suffering caused to patients, it has directly contributed to patient deaths due to compounding errors by hospitals attempting to cobble together these important drug regimens. If that was the goal of the DEA restriction - good job.I am also attaching an article by Jeffrey Singer that debunks the basis of the DEA proposal. You are chasing the wrong problem. Perhaps I would suggest that the DEA focus on their intended mission - stopping illegal drugs. Stand down from torturing chronic pain patients, hospital patients, hospice patients, cancer patients, trauma victims, mothers, and other that absolutely need these medications.Thank you for the opportunity to comment.Henry Yennie312 Lovers LaneBaton Rouge, LA 70806 Ive been on pain meds for 7 years..as a LAST resort...ive done EVERYTHING recommened by my dr.s and specialists...ive had 4 major spine surgeries...including a total neck replaced...i was in a headon car crash with a big truck..i was in a small car..toyota...no seatbelt..when i was 18...1983...ive NEVER taken pain meds and went to chiropractors 2..3..s a week...and worked 25 years....in 2004 i fell sideways off a high curb carrying my autistic st son...breaking my back...i had lumbat surgery...and discontinued opioid pain meds...i continued chiropractic care for my neck..My lumbar surgery totally failed and desperately needed another one...Which i had...a year later...2011...every disc in my neck came out...3 went into spinal cord 3mm...after i bumped my forehead.....an emergency total neck replacement done...i developed tumors/cysts on my sp.cord..and all over my spine in neck..thoracic..lumbar...my discs have deteriorated...bone spurs develpoed....excess swelling in spine...I discovered that BPM...by MEDTRONICS was used in my lumbar...my 1st surgery...which is poison in my spine...highly toxic....i have severe nerve..muscle damage...sevete stenosis..cysts on cord...whole spine arthiritic..fusing together....i am in so much pain....i dont want to live....i was tapered off meds..due to epidemic...This is not right...my doctor had tears in her eyes when she told me that everyone is being tapered off pain meds...by 2018...and ive tried Tramadol....it did NOT help....but hurt my kidneys...i take 20 to 30 ibeprofens a day..plus otc tylenol....i will die soon.....from either lidney failure or heartattack...as my pain is so bad..my BP is extremely high....ive raised 4 children...2 were my step sons...they both have autism..whom had to be placed in foster homes now...because of this...Please listen to us...Ive heard so many mothers whom lost their teens to prescription drugs...including a cousin of mine...where the teen will become addicted from an injury...or take them right from the cupboard at home...etc...HOW COME THESE PARENTS ARE NOT BEING CHARGED?...EVERY BOTTLE OF OPIOIDS SAY TO LOCK UP YOUR MEDS!!!!....etc....why do we..us chronic sufferers...have to pay for it now???....PLEASE LISTEN TO US CHRONIC PAIN SUFFERES....WE JUST WANT TO LIVE...AND NOT SUFFER...WE ARE RESPONSIBLE...AND NOT ADDICTS...Doctors just NEED to be trained better on reading mri s...xrays...medical reports...and trained on how to determine if the patient is in chronic pain.....instead of cutting us all off....i really do not know how much longer i can live like this...ive enclosed a photo of my neck replaced...which is extremely misaligned...causing severe NERVE damage...pain...and a pic.of me..bedridden..swollen neck...with cysts...or tumors...i was taken off my opioid pain meds in this condition...because of this epidemic....its inhumane...abuse... DEA has no reliable way to determine whether or how much any controlled substance is diverted to non-medical use.Hospitals are experiencing shortages of scheduled drugs and patients are being endangered because of past unjustified restrictions on production. The DEA is at fault. Restrictions on medical supply are ineffective and unjustified.Actively managed pain patients are almost never involved in opioid overdose-related deaths, and in the few cases where they are, it id plausibly as a consequence of under-treatment of pain and depression, forcing the patient to seek relief in street markets.  DEA has already damaged countless lives by creating a hostile regulatory environment, driving doctors out of pain practice and forcing the discharge or coerced tapering of patients in agony. Withdraw DEA proposed rule making.  It is counter-productive and inhumane. I am a CMT, 45 yr old and over 20 yrs sober. I am a chronic pain patient. I am submitting this comment not for myself but for others to have the right for proper pain mngt. I dont use pain meds any more due to the help of natural alternatives like kratom, skullcap, kava, magnolia bark and many other herbs but I do support patients who chose to take Rx for pain. I was on opioid meds since 1999 and 3 yrs ago I eased off all of them and onto herbal teas and supplements. I didnt experience any WD except from gabapentin. I never sold or bought opioid meds when I was on them and I do not believe I ever became addicted to them. The statements taking an opioid for longer than 3 days turns you into an addict is the far from the truth. I run a group Kratom United, we grew to 2,000 members in 2 yrs but in the past yr our members shot up to over 7,000. I have heard from CPP whove been abandoned by their Drs, fired, let go, cut off their Rx or tapered way down and seeking a safe alternative since the medical community have turned their backs on them. I was given the choice to switch to natural alternatives but many of my members were not granted that luxury. I have had so many members share stories of their Pain Warriors committing suicide in the past yr and I dont see it slowing down. I also have a veterans group Veterans Care Alliance Botanicals where we send care packages to veterans whove been tapered down or cut off their Rx pain meds AND benzos for PTSD. I am getting reports their BP is rising stroke or near stroke levels, vets are committing suicide. This is no way to treat someone that fought for our freedoms and to yank away their quality of life. Some even at the end of life. I have friends who are or family are going through chemo and radiation whove asked their oncologist, PCP or pain mngt doctors for help with pain associated with their cancer treatment and were denied! I honestly believe this is genocide of the sick and weak and this is NOT helping the opioid epidemic but its driving people in pain to the streets who are seeking pain relief NOT drugs. Driving people to seek relief on the black market is sending them to drug dealers selling fake pills laced with illicit fenyntal and heroin. If addicts steal pills or buy heroin laced with illicit fenyntal who are you saving and who are you punishing? The CDC reported opioid OD on the rise yet failed to report the number who died from illicit fenyntal. The CDC reported OD from prescription opioids but failed to report the number who died from their own prescription and how many died from stolen Rx. Hospitals are running out of opioids to treat patients who are coming out of surgery, they are running out of opioids to treat major trauma, patients are even postponing elective surgeries due to fear of NOT having adequate pain mngt after a surgery and to be honest I am one of them. I have a torn rotator cuff and need surgery but out of FEAR of not having proper treatment after surgery I have not had the surgery.  I work with people who are ready to get clean and rarely do I get someone who are addicted to their own prescription opioids. This whole restriction on opioids is punishing pain patients NOT saving addicts, and do you really think saving an addict over punishing a pain patient is the moral thing to do? when I was on opioids I was on 100 mmg fenyntal, 120 mg Oxycontin and 40 mg endocet. I was told because my metabolism is so fast, Rx exit my system at a higher rate than your normal person.   90 mg a day is NOT adequate pain mngt for chronic pain! Allow Americans in pain some dignity and the choice if they want opioid pain mngt or herbal pain mngt. Each time I get online I see another person committed suicide and what your doing by limiting legit pain patients safe access to opioid meds is contributing to deaths and the real opioid epidemic which is from illicit drugs like herion and fenyntal analogs not even manufactured in a US lab or from a US Dr prescription. My comment is not to protect my own access to pain meds, its to protect the rest of the American pain patients rights to pain mngt. Please stop this attack on pain patients and allow chronic pain and cancer patients some dignity most at end of life a some what quality of life. {please omit my name and files to the public} I am a chronic pain patient first of all. but prior to that I worked in healthcare since I was 18 years old. the DEA present course of actions if allowed to continue will make life even more unlivable than it already has for chronic pain patient. My Dr closed his practice last April for fear of DEA retribution. if the DEA had been doing it job all along things may not have gotten so out of proportions. it is however a fact of record that prescriptions peeked in 2012 and and have steadily declined every since.  Furthermore the death stats for 2016 were very clear that deaths were on the rise for illicit fentanyl and heroin. yet every news meeting keeps screaming government rhetoric that it is prescription opiods are the cause of death. Also it has been proven that less than 5% of the population becomes addicted to prescription pain medication.It is my understanding with the exception of Prince almost all of the high profile deaths involved alcohol that is legal. However there are as many studies that prove that people tend to develop drug seeking behavior when their pain medications needs are not met.The DEA allowed CVS and Walgreens pharmacies to run for years with hundred of thousands of missing controlled drugs. When you consider both companies are worth billions of dollars the fines they paid were miniscule . I have been in pain management clinic since 2010. Another pain Dr wasted almost 2 years of my life with repeated tapering every month. New pain Dr told me a DEA agent told one of my Dr that they did not care who suffered or who committed suicide that they ( the DEA ) were going to get the drugs off the street.I cannot take marijuana, I cannot drink. I only take what I must for pain. because of the DEA enforcing CDC guidelines that were intended ( so the public was told ) for general practitioners starting new opioid therapy have some how morphed into a bible to justify the DEA war against doctors and patients. this is not about prescription drugs anymore. this is about power. This is about the government not wanting to pay for medications necessary for some of us on Medicare.Somewhere along the way the government realized that disabled people are on medications.  This seems to be some form of government depopulation. Already hospital have to triage and restrict who gets pain medication due to insufficient supply- further reductions could result in patients having surgeries and being left to scream in agony simply because there is not medication available.I am drug tested monthly and my pills counted. the DEA has everyone convinced that responsible pain patients are diverting our medications. the CDC guidelines have made no provisions for the 100 million chronic pain patients, that 1.5 million are on greater than 200 MME. yet our government will spend a billion dollars dropping bombs in Syria over the death of 70 people who died heinously. I submit to chronic pain patient are suffering a slow, heinous death at the hand of DEA agents hopped up on righteousness and testosterone. The fact that there was only a 2 week public opening for comments aligns this move as more socialist than a democratic based government. Actually all the actions by the DEA in the past 5 years have followed a socialist agenda. The FDA and the DEA failed to intercede until the CDC was tasked with drawing up the guidelines. Canada drafted and and adopted opioid prescribing guidelines in 2010  were the DEA and FDA not aware of this.Furthermore my pain medication are subtherapeutic as of right now because of the DEA enforcing the CDC guidelines as law, stalking Drs about quantity, drug and drug combinations. I was forced to stop taking benzodiazepines because of the DEA enforcing guidelines as laws. the DEA agents have no medical training or a right to question what combinations are therapeutic. The DEA need to cease and desist in there actions on prescription medications. anymore effort should be direct at the illicet Fentanyl and heroin that is the true cause of deaths in the United stated. you cannot penalize the entire country for the misappropriation of prescription narcotic in 5 state. The world is watching the Democracy of the United states create guidelines and implement a socialist agenda for a desired outcome without accurate scientific support. it is time place moratorium from any other government actions until the death stat fro 2017 are released to the public. I read on a Johnson and Johnson site last night that was citing the stats so they must have been released preemptively which is why the DEA only allowed 2 weeks of open comment. The US that has always argued against cruelty in other countries is looking like a fool to those countries now. Dear DEA,I have had 29 left knee arthrotomies, 12-15 left knee arthroscopes, 6 right knee arthrotomies, 6 right knee arthroscopes, left finger trigger release, digits 3 and 4, back fusion, 2 nasal reconstructions and some other surgeries.  I had my left knee replaced in 1993 and need another left knee replacement, a right hip reconstruction, a left shoulder repair, bone spurs in my right and left foot, carpal tunnel in both right and left hands.  I have been on crutches since 8-13-1982 (Friday the 13, 1982 was the day I had surgery and have not been off crutches, which is 36 years of dragging myself around on crutches and damaging my elbows, shoulders, wrists, and hands and have the matching nerve damage to go with it).  I have Plantar Fasciitis on both the right and left foot as a result of back surgery which is common and I developed bone spurs.  I have tried the DTAP treatment.  The first 3 treatments helped my right foot which is the foot I can weight bear on and the last 2 treatments have not helped.  I might qualify for the Tenex procedure which is very expensive. I cannot have the hip reconstruction because I cannot weight bare on my left leg.  I cannot have the left shoulder repaired (which was damaged because of a doctor giving me a drug overdose after my 8 1/2 hour back reconstruction, in which I was opened from the front of me and the back).  The doctor never apologized for the drug overdose.  The doctor told my mom while I was on life support that he gave me the overdose, on the 4th and 5th day he began to lie about what he did to me.  I was given 2 other drug overdoses by doctor/nurse incompetency and those people didnt take responsibility for their mistakes.  As a result of the last drug overdose where my heart stopped and I did not get the oxygen to the brain I have the lovely side effects of having lost my extensive vocabulary, ability to be excellent with my grammar skills, remembering relatives names, places I have been, geography, movies I have seen, books I have read, and conversations I have had. I originally fell down a cliff at age 15 in 1978 when the guide took us off the trail and instead of getting me help he had me walk on my ripped up knee for 12 more days.  I was rebuilt and working as a waitress before college and the Holiday Inn had illegal flooring in the restaurant and I was one of the 10 plus workers that were injured. I had many falls as a result of the problems with my knees and the many knee surgeries.  I was on and off crutches since 1978, but have been on crutches since 8-13-1982.  I have nerve damage in both my left and right elbows and down towards my hands, along with the carpal tunnel as a result of the falls and the crutches.  I have nerve damage in my lower left leg.  I have nerve damage to some of the muscles in my left leg.  I have extreme weakness in my left leg and foot.  I have a ruptured patellar tendon and quadriceps because Dr. Robert Watanabe ruptured my quads and patellar tendon and hid the information from me.  When a quadriceps ruptures, one only has a few weeks to fix it because the quad retracts up the leg and one loses the ability to use the leg properly. I had the quad repaired.  I then had the quad rupture again because the allograft was not big enough and I was on the waiting list for a larger quadriceps patellar tendon prior to the rupture which the Texas Workers Comp had approved and when the donor allograft came up and was found to be disease free the Texas Work Comp broke the law and denied the allograft which I had waited over 1 and1/2 years for.The Tx Comp had to promise to pay the Red Cross prior to allowing me to go on their list.  Typical Tx Work Comp broke the law and I had my quadriceps retract up my thigh I had to sue the insurance company for bad faith.  It turns out the lawyer representing the Texas insurance company shared a dorm room with the judges husband.  How is that for justice being blind.  The Texas Courts for over 37 years did not punish the insurance company that had represented the Holiday Inn. Texas is pro-business and could care less about an injured worker.The workmans compensation turned over private documents that showed that they wanted to emotionally harm their most expensive injured patients that they were responsible for.  The Texas judicial system did not punish the company or the people who made these decisions hoping the patients would kill themselves which would ultimately save the company money. I was injured on 7-19-1981 at the Holiday Inn and never expected what I thought was a reputable company to be so crooked and have my life affected for 37 years plus.  I never expected to have so many doctors with so-called good educations give me drug overdoses that put me on life support or almost killed me from their negligence. I am in agony all the time, with joints hurting at different pain levels.I cant walk and suffer 24/7. I have never been high. Opiates medications help me. You are punishing me. Announcement States:** The Missouri League for Nursing is in full support of the state of Missouris collaborative effort to ensure the safety of our residents and educate our prescribers in their role in leadership to address this number one health crisis in the United States, said Peggy Neale-Lewis, RN, CPHQ, President, Missouri League for Nursing. My Response:Where are the legislators, physicians and nurses who are willing to risk it to stand up for pain patient rights. What happen to those in healthcare who follow the Hippocratic oath of number one rule of First Due NO Harm. If we do not designate, train and equip our facilities, physicians and nurses how to treat pain and its underlining causes healthcare is headed in world of despair. As anyone should know we all grow old. The elderly is one situation I find disturbing in my 4 years of research, meeting patients, advocating and becoming a patient leader. The elderly generation were taught to trust physicians and are being taken advantage of. There is multitude of new doctors who have risen into the new age of practicing medicine. I dont debate the need for change. I do however debate the shift of the change in healthcare. Taking both parties into consideration, providing awareness, education and prevention is a must to move forward on both sides.Since the CDC Guideline was released, there are now tens of thousands of non-cancer pain patients on long term opioid prescription therapy who are being INVOLUNTARILY tapered down or off of their pain medications. Would you want to be the one wearing this shoe? This has resulted in patient abandonment, being un-treated/under treated and millions left to suffer with debilitating pain.  Some of these patients have had their opioid medications abruptly discontinued throwing them into withdrawal. I am 35 and would like to live to see my grandchildren while being close to pain free as possible. As life exists now without opioid medicine  therapy my pained life is flashing before my eyes and I am living NO where near a quality of life or minimal pain levels. I have missed out on multiple activities, ball games, archery and so much more! My children deserve their mom!  By following suggested materials from networked counsel I have managed to bring my daily pain level to a 50/50 scale. The education materials and skills do not change the fact my body an central nervous system are on sensory over load from my underling cause of pain Adhesive Arachnoiditis  Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome. Any activity I chose to participate in I have consequences of debilitating pain that takes days to recoup from. I have to choose to use my energy pennies wisely! I am in the fight for my life and without regaining access to opioid medication I do not know what my future will entail. I chose to focus on the I cans instead of the I cants while the rods wreak havoc on my internals.  Unfortunately the passenger of the 99 mva committed suicide on Easter. I do not know the circumstances of his situation for it had been quite a while since we had seen one another. What I do know is he hit his head in the wreak, refused medical treatment that day and never obtained access to care for injuries sustained in the accident. It is a sad situation in this Nation  for Missouri residents are facing life without someone to stand up and provide a voice to a silenced community. And just do whats right by legitimate pain patients! There now abounds significant anecdotal evidence and significant documented media reports, that these patients who have been involuntarily tapered down or off their opioid medications, are committing suicide due to the intense pain that has resulted.Thank you for time, open mind and ear!  Your job is to protect the innocent and prosecute the guilty not the other way around. I am 60 and suffering with uncontrolled Chronic pain I no longer care about life. This all has gotten so out of control that the line between right and wrong is so blurred that maybe its time that you take a step back and see we are not the enemy. Please someone has to step up and do what is right. Thank you I am embarresed and ashamed by what this country has become! Governments have an obligation to take measures to protect people under their jurisdiction from inhuman and degrading treatment. Failure of governments to take reasonable measures to ensure accessibility of pain treatment, which leaves millions of people to suffer needlessly from severe and often prolonged pain, raises questions whether they have adequately discharged this obligation.My cousin hung himself because he could not bare the suffering and daily torture of chronic, intractable pain. He was being treated with methadone. One of Dr. Forest Tennants patients just killed herself. Thanks to the witch hunt by the DEA. Her family stated that she was in such a state of despair and anxiety due to the forced retirement of this great man, and she knew she would never find a Dr. to treat her pain. Life was not worth living if you are being tortured every waking moment! She will not be the last pain patient to end their life. The DEA has blood on their hands! The DEA is directly responsible for this young womans death, and every person who takes their life due to untreated pain. Shame, shame, shame! Why are the abusers and addicts being treated like victims? Illegal drug abuse is a crime! They choose to be addicted! They have hope to be cured. Most do not want help. Myself on the other hand did not have a choice to have two rare spine diseases with no cure or effective treatment, in addition to a genetic disorder that causes pain, osteoarthritis from a lyme infection and a severely degenerated spine. There is no hope for a cure. I have diseases, addicts do not have a disease! Stop practicing medicine without a license. Thought that was a crime? I do not need any protection from myself or my personal physician in regard to my care! We got it. For the last three months, I have been profiled as a drug abuser at the pharmacy. There has been a shortage of my prescribed medication. This is a violation of my human rights. The Social Security Admin. determined that I am disabled since 2007. This was before the diagnosis of the two rare spine diseases I suffer from. I have to go out of stare to see the few experts in this country that have experience in my multiple rare conditions. Pain patients are not the majority of people overdosing! The DEA should be spending their time and resources on stopping the flow of heroin and illicit fenanyl from entering the country, not on this pathetic witch hunt on Drs. who have compassion to treat human beings from be tortured and giving them a level of functionality so maybe life can be worth living. The depth of ignorance about legitimate chronic pain is shocking! There are over one million chronic pain patients in this country. Alcohol causes more deaths and also takes the lives of innocents. Couldnt solve that problem. Cigarettes is the same. But those issues got swept under the rug while people are still dying. Since the government is now profitting from maijuana, it is no loner the gateway drug?Whats really behind this campaign that only punishes patients and their Drs. is money and power. Patients will be left with two options, seeking out street drugs or suicide. Thanks DEA.......Pray you or your loved ones dont need surgery or get a disease that causes chronic pain. Actually I hope you do...... 