The Pain Relief Network

On behalf of the Pain Relief Network, a national organization formed to restore the natural rights of people with pain, I will be at the Schneider Medical Clinic in Haysville from 1 to 3 p.m. today collecting signatures on a petition imploring the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts to refrain from participating in the Justice Department's efforts to destroy the clinic ("Board seeks to suspend doctor's license," Dec. 28 Eagle).

As the body that oversees the practice of medicine for the state of Kansas, the board is the only entity involved in this matter with the proper authority to prevent a doctor from practicing medicine. The U.S. Supreme Court has confirmed on numerous occasions that the states, not the feds, regulate the practice of medicine.

Unfortunately, as the actions of Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Treadway reveal, the Justice Department does not recognize the limits placed on its authority. The department is so apparently unconflicted about its usurpation of the sovereignty of the states that it admitted, early in the Oregon v. Ashcroft litigation in 2002, that U.S. attorneys prosecute doctors on criminal charges on what amount to disagreements over the way the doctors practice medicine, rather than for any criminal conduct. Drug prohibition itself gave federal law enforcement the unrestrained power to exploit medical practice for easy "wins," and the result has been calamitous to patients in pain.

The Kansas Board of Healing Arts was created to protect the public health. We are asking that members step up to the plate here to protect these vulnerable and terrified Kansans.

Because of the federal government's recent actions against Stephen and Linda Schneider, there are simply no other doctors available to these patients should the hobbled clinic close. No other doctor in Kansas, nor in any other state, will write prescriptions for "controlled substances" for these now-marked people. And without these vital medicines, many of these people will die.

We hope that the Board of Healing Arts will come to realize what has happened and act to protect this clinic.

SIOBHAN REYNOLDS

President and founder

Pain Relief Network

Santa Fe, N.M.