Is wrongfully targeting doctors

War on opioids

Although I agree that opioid abuse has increased since the 1990s, it was the government that pushed a campaign to prescribe more opioids for chronic non-cancer and cancer pain to relieve pain and suffering back then. And it worked. Pharmaceutical companies only “took advantage” by pushing their products in response to what the government wanted. We doctors did what we were told, and we had people going back to work and leading much better lives.

The problem is that having more opioids around brought out the dealers and addicts. A disease is a malady that causes suffering or even death and people desperately want help. The brain of an addict processes dopamine, the reward brain neurotransmitter, differently. Most take control; many don’t want to.

The government has been throwing doctors in jail assuming they are the cause. I am a victim of this.

Because doctors have been prescribing less out of fear of prosecution, the opioid crisis has intensified with more deaths and more addicts. But because the government assumed everyone is an addict, it took away doctors’ control, leading to this.

Throwing doctors in jail, taking away their licenses and livelihoods, is not only fueling the problem of under-treatment of chronic pain, but fueling the already critical doctor shortage. Let’s stop prosecuting doctors. Let us do our jobs and care for pain and suffering. We don’t have to throw addicts in jail, but making them register as addicts and threatening them with a loss of driving privileges is a good start.

We must also push for a pardon for doctors who have been wrongfully prosecuted for trying to do the right thing. There is a critical doctor shortage. Many are in jail. Dealers must not get pass. FELIX BRIZUELA Harrison City, Pa.

The writer was convicted earlier this year by a federal jury on 15 counts of illegally distributing controlled substances outside the bounds of professional medical practice.