The vindictive grand jury investigation of pain-relief advocate Siobhan Reynolds

[friendly_iconoclast]

http://www.slate.com/id/2278244/pagenum/all/

The Worst Kind of Ham Sandwich
The vindictive grand jury investigation of pain-relief advocate Siobhan Reynolds.
By Radley Balko
Posted Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2010, at 4:00 PM ET

Grand juries are supposed to act as a buffer between prosecutors and those they accuse of committing a crime. They're intended to protect us from having our reputations ruined by reckless and meritless allegations. In reality, grand juries have been captured by prosecutors. The American Bar Association notes that, particularly at the federal level, grand juries have come to possess "wide, sweeping, almost unrestricted power," which is "virtually in complete control of the prosecutor." In the wrong hands, grand juries can even become a tool for harassing a prosecutor's political enemies. The feud between Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Treadway and pain patient advocate Siobhan Reynolds is a good example.

Over the last decade, the federal government has been targeting doctors who treat pain patients with prescription drugs like Percocet and Oxycontin. Advocates like Reynolds argue that doctors who overprescribe painkillers should be disciplined by medical boards if they are sloppy or unscrupulous, not judges and prosecutors. Dumping them into the criminal justice system puts drug cops in the position of determining what is and isn't acceptable medical treatment. One promising treatment of chronic pain known as high-dose opiate therapy, for example has all but disappeared because doctors are too terrified of running afoul of the law to try it.

Siobhan Reynolds entered this fray when her late ex-husband, Sean, began suffering the symptoms of a congenital connective tissue disorder that left him with debilitating pain in his joints. After trying a variety of treatments, he found relief in a high-dose drug therapy administered by Virginia pain specialist William Hurwitz. But Hurwitz was later charged and convicted on 16 counts of drug trafficking. The judge acknowledged that Hurwitz ran a legitimate practice and had likely saved and improved the lives of countless people. His crime was not recognizing that some of his patients were addicts and dealers. Meanwhile, Reynolds' husband died in 2006 of a cerebral brain hemorrhage, which she believes was the result of years of abnormally high blood pressure brought on by his pain.

All of this moved Reynolds to start the Pain Relief Network, a shoestring nonprofit that advocates on behalf of pain patients and physicians. Reynolds quickly learned how to convey the frustration of pain patients and their families. I first met her at a 2005 Capitol Hill forum. She had the entire room in tears. I later commissioned and edited a paper for the Cato Institute about painkiller prosecutions.....

This article will make your blood boil. In essence, this woman is being persecuted for having the temerity to challenge

the War on (Some) Drugs. And if you read the whole thing, the Department of 'Justice' is trying to suppress discussion of the

case...

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Why thes story will get exposure

Several million of us chronic pain sufferers are involuntarily in cold-turkey withdrawal from propoxyphene -- 32 years of pressure from Ralph Nader finally "worked" and the drug was banned in the USA about 8 weeks ago. The result is that there will be a large number of new, politically-active agitators for "client centered" medical care.

--d!

[friendly_iconoclast]

2. FOLLOW UP: Link to NY Times article mentioned (further evidence of suppression)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/us/02bar.html?_r=1&ref=adamliptak

.....But it was sealed by the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, in Denver, citing grand jury secrecy rules. The court then denied the groups’ motion to unseal their own brief. That ruling itself is sealed, too, but I have seen parts of it.

Among the reasons for keeping the brief secret, the court said, was that the groups’ goal “is clearly to discuss in public amici’s agenda.” Well, yes......


.....Then Ms. Treadway tried another tack. She issued a sprawling grand jury subpoena to Ms. Reynolds.

It had almost 100 subparts and sought documents, e-mails, phone records, checks, bank records, credit card receipts, photographs, videos and “Facebook communications (including messages and wall posts)” concerning contacts with dozens of people, including doctors and lawyers, along with information about a billboard supporting the Schneiders and a documentary film called, perhaps presciently, “The Chilling Effect"....

To Tanya Treadway and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals: Fuck you very much. It's not for you to decide what people may say.

And we'll discuss what we like.

[Tsiyu]

3. OMG Somewhere, someone is feeling goood and is no longer in pain

Someone has found relief!

This must not happen!


And we will NEVER EVER punish the pharmco's who spew out the narcotics. They are free to reap the windfall profits. But Joe Shmo goes to prison for having a few of the same pills the pharmcos hand out like candy. It's absolutely insane when you think about it. Like the sociopaths are running the show and meting out the punishments.


Heaven forbid a person in agonizing pain actually uses their highly profitable products. Heaven forbid someone suffering should need more than the State Authorized Amount. We can't have DOCTORS making these decisions with their patients. We must have PROSECUTORS making health care decisions for patients they have never met.



because you just KNOW some of these patients are feeling too damned good.

Can't have that, can we?

[friendly_iconoclast]

4. A small correction- It's not about profits, it's about control.

Most opioids are long out of patent, and are generic.


I'd say it's more the pharmaco-legal system commonly known as the War On (Some) Drugs trying to keep Reynolds and others

quiet as she cannot be easily dismissed as some Jeff Spicoli type. Hence the heavy handed censorship.


Believe me, I'd much rather ingest cannabis than naproxen for my osteoarthritis.

If it wasn't for the legal hassle, and the knowledge that some cannabis is sourced from some rather nasty people, I would.