The Pain Relief Network

Article III of the US Constitution grants the Courts the power to say what the law is (see Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803)). It is settled constitutional law that the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments permit the Courts to interpret the word “liberty,” and it is black-letter law that “liberty” means more than mere freedom from physical restraint. Therefore, the Courts have developed the doctrine of substantive due process — a doctrine which states that the Courts, through their power to interpret the word “liberty” (which appears explicitly in both Due Process Clauses), have the power to review the substance of state and federal action, not merely the manner in which the action is implemented. Therefore, under the doctrine of substantive due process, the Court can invalidate the substance of actions taken by the other two branches of the government.

PRN was formed to come to understand the root causes of the severe shortage of opioid pain treatment in the United States, despite its almost universal acceptance as the treatment of choice for severe pain. Ostensibly, the treatment of pain with Controlled Substances was and is legal, and, as the DEA will oft repeat, doctors have nothing to fear if they prescribe these medicines in the normal course of their professional practices. The truth of what was happening to doctors who actually treated pain with opioids, however, only became apparent, when we began to study the criminal trials of physicians, charged under the CSA, and work with the attorneys involved that we were able to piece together the outrageous distortions and dirty tricks government prosecutors were using in order to procure convictions. Ever since, we have provided the lawyers on these cases with our best insights into how the government misleads the judge and jury alike. As of yet attorneys have not been able to secure a total victory for even the most obviously innocent physician if he or she was charged federally. However, we were able secure an important victory for Dr. Paul Heberle in his battle with the state of Pennsylvannia. Since PRN was established we have seen a considerable shift in the government’s willingness to plea bargain with defendants rather than risk a loss at trial. While it is a national disgrace that humane and highly trained physicians are being coerced into lying against themselves in Federal court to avoid draconian sentences, the United States Department of Justice currently enjoys a 99% conviction rate. Moreover, it has become clear to observers at PRN, that the government will stop at nothing to ensure conviction. In this climate, saving one’s self becomes paramount for the pain- treating physician. Accordingly we, and the consultants we work with, have been instrumental in providing counsel crucial ammunition with which to convince the prosecuting attorneys that they might, indeed, have a problem at trial. Many of the physicians who go to prison are elderly and ill: Dr. Freddie Willliams… died in prison. Dr. Paramboleth Edwin… perished of a heart attack just two days after he had lied against himself in a Federal courtroom Dr. Benjamin Moore… a neurologist caught up case against the Comprehensive Care Clinic in South Carolina, hung himself in his mother’s tree after the government conditioned his continued freedom upon providing false testimony against his colleagues. Dr. Michael Woodward… was lured into providing the evidence that damned his colleagues in that same case. — In a landmark case in 2005 the United States Supreme Court ruled favorably in Gonzales vs. Oregon. The decision drew a few boundaries for the United States Justice Department in its enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act as it concerns physicians. But as of yet, the courts have not seen fit to overturn any of the convictions based on the government’s misunderstanding of the scope of their powers prior to the Oregon ruling. The legal filings of the cases in which PRN has played a role may be downloaded from our Clinical Litigation page. Since the beginning of the Ashcroft/Bush crackdown (which commenced right on the heels of 9-11) millions of Americans have been thrown out of care. What little care remains, is provided to patients with suspicion and brutality. This past August, one of the founders of Pain Relief Network, Sean Greenwood, was driven from care and died as a result. Everyday thousands more cower in the fear that their doctor will be next. While it is a common shibboleth that “pain never killed anyone” it is becoming abundantly clear that the non-treatment of pain is killing millions. (See our article: Pain Killer)

At PRN, we have refocused our efforts to bring together a legal campaign that will directly overturn the Controlled Substances Act in its entirety. It has become apparent that the law is structurally flawed and denies both patients and physicians substantive due process. PRN will be working towards the day that law, order, compassion and civility due every human being are restored. In the name of protecting us from our doctors, and ourselves, the government has become a brutal enforcer of this deadly oppression and it must be stopped.

Reference:  The Fiction and Tyranny of “Administrative Law”