DOJ–DEA TARGETING AND THE CHILLING EFFECTS ON PAIN CARE TREATMENT
from youarewithinthenorms.com
NORMAN J CLEMENT RPH., DDS, NORMAN L. CLEMENT PHARM-TECH, MALACHI F. MACKANDAL PHARMD, BELINDA BROWN-PARKER, IN THE SPIRIT OF JOSEPH SOLVO ESQ., INC., SPIRIT OF REV. IN THE SPIRIT OF WALTER R. CLEMENT BS., MS, MBA. HARVEY JENKINS, MD, PH.D., IN THE SPIRIT OF C.T. VIVIAN, JELANI ZIMBABWE CLEMENT, BS., M.B.A., IN THE SPIRIT OF THE HON. PATRICE LUMUMBA, IN THE SPIRIT OF ERLIN CLEMENT SR., EVELYN J. CLEMENT, WALTER F. WRENN III., MD., JULIE KILLINGSWORTH, RENEE BLARE, RPH, DR. TERENCE SASAKI, MD LESLY POMPY MD., CHRISTOPHER RUSSO, MD., NANCY SEEFELDT, WILLIE GUINYARD BS., JOSEPH WEBSTER MD., MBA, BEVERLY C. PRINCE MD., FACS., NEIL ARNAND, MD., RICHARD KAUL, MD., IN THE SPIRIT OF LEROY BAYLOR, JAY K. JOSHI MD., MBA, AISHA GARDNER, ADRIENNE EDMUNDSON, ESTER HYATT PH.D., WALTER L. SMITH BS., IN THE SPIRIT OF BRAHM FISHER ESQ., MICHELE ALEXANDER MD., CUDJOE WILDING BS, MARTIN NJOKU, BS., RPH., IN THE SPIRIT OF DEBRA LYNN SHEPHERD, BERES E. MUSCHETT, STRATEGIC ADVISORS
A Unique Historical Insight,” which focuses critically on the aggressive regulation and prosecution of pain management physicians and pharmacists. The text highlights the story of Dr. Mark Ibsen, a Montana physician who stopped prescribing opioids due to fear after a colleague’s conviction, leading tragically to the suicides of six of his former chronic pain patients. Experts argue that the current regulatory environment, including the use of flawed guidelines like the Morphine Milligram Equivalent (MME) and the actions of the DEA and medical boards, is causing a “chilling effect” that undermines patient care and forces legitimate patients to be denied necessary pain relief. The articles advocate for reforms to medical board processes and a change in regulatory practices that have criminalized pain management and eroded the doctor-patient relationship.
THE HUNTED HEALER
This article discusses the serious issue of pharmacists withholding legitimate pain medication, emphasizing the concept of “Corresponding Responsibility” and the dangers it poses to patients, especially those suffering from chronic pain.
The original text centered on the November 2021 republished story of Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas, a Chicago Tribune reporter who had broken back, who faced interrogations and denial of her prescribed narcotic opioid pain relief by pharmacists who felt “uncomfortable.”
The text points out that an “uncomfortable pharmacist” fails to conduct a physical examination on the patient, review or order any lab work, review or order radiographs, or view progress reports, and enter their decision into writing detailing why the prescription is illegitimate.
PATIENT VS. PHARMACIST
The DEA considers traveling long distances to fill a prescription a “red flag” for abuse and diversion. This policy criminalizes patient behavior and creates massive concerns for the medical community, as patients may spend days searching for a pharmacy willing to fill their legitimate prescriptions, causing disruptions in staple treatment.
The CDC’s guidelines are criticized as flawed, unscientific, and based on unreliable data, leading to patient suicides and increased use of illicit drugs. The MME concept is called “one-size-fits-none” because it fails to account for individual differences in drug absorption, metabolism, and genetics, making it devoid of scientific utility.
Dr. Kayvann Haddanan, MD, has eloquently articulated,
“State medical boards are entrusted with the critical mission of protecting public safety by ensuring that physicians practice medicine competently and ethically.
However, a troubling pattern has emerged in which these regulatory bodies, endowed with significant and often unaccountable authority, are perpetrating a crisis of overreach.
This systemic failure not only harms dedicated physicians but also compromises patient care and fundamentally erodes public trust in the healthcare system.
Instead of focusing on genuine threats, boards are increasingly engaging in adversarial actions that can transform minor issues into career-threatening ordeals.”
Dr. Haddanan’s white paper,” Reforming Medical Boards: Saving Patient Care and Physician Livelihoods,” provided a comprehensive analysis for healthcare administrators, legal professionals, and policymakers on the systemic flaws within medical board disciplinary processes.
By examining the adversarial nature of investigations, the inconsistent application of punitive measures, and the underlying motivations that drive this dysfunction, this document aims to illuminate a problem that operates largely outside of public view but has profound consequences for the entire healthcare ecosystem.
This paper will critically examine the paradoxical nature of board actions, where minor infractions are aggressively pursued while serious malpractice is often overlooked. It will then detail the cascading consequences of this overreach, exploring the devastating human cost for physicians and the tangible impact on community health.
Finally, it will unmask the systemic drivers—including financial incentives and a culture of secrecy—before proposing a concrete framework for meaningful reform designed to restore fairness, transparency, and accountability to medical regulation.
FEBRUARY 25, 2025 9:12AM
The Chilling Effect: How Fear Drives Doctors Away from Pain Patients
FROM Dr. Jeff Singer, MD Senior Fellow Cato Institue:
“In 2015, agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raided the office of Christopher Christensen, a Montana physician who was then 67 years old, and arrested him for inappropriately prescribing opioids to his patients.
The DEA charged Dr. Christensen with 400 felony drug offenses and two counts of negligent homicide following the overdoses of two patients who had taken his prescribed medication. A jury convicted Christensen in 2017, and the court sentenced him to 20 years in prison, 10 of which were suspended.
The Montana Supreme Court overturned the negligent homicide convictions but still required him to serve time in prison for nine counts of criminal endangerment and 11 counts of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs.
Dr. Christensen’s arrest by cops practicing medicine frightened Dr. Ibsen, a Montana primary care and urgent care physician. Dr. Ibsen wrote me: “Before ceasing writing prescriptions for opiates, reported DEA incursions had me thinking that every opiate prescription I wrote could be my last.
I worried if I could trust patients to honor their promise that they would not kill themselves with my prescription, as that would take me down as well.” He ceased prescribing opioids for pain in 2017. “I thought I was going to be given an award for weaning 80% of my patients off opioids.”
He tapered his patients’ doses, gave them notice that he would no longer treat them, referred them to other doctors, and prescribed them a 30-day supply of pain medications to tide them over until they saw the other doctors. Unfortunately, other doctors were oftentimes afraid of taking on new pain patients. Some of Ibsen’s former patients grew desperate, and like many across the country in similar straits, some turned to suicide.
At Cato’s pain refugee event, Dr. Ibsen, holding back tears, stated:
Six of my patients died from 2016 to 2018 after I stopped prescribing opiates when Dr. Chris Christensen was convicted. Three of my patients died by gunshot wounds … two by alcohol complications … and one by a non-opioid overdose: Chris Storseht — Jennifer Adams – Robert Mason – Jennifer Beausoleil – John Burke- Lynette Chadwick.
At the BOME Screening Panel hearing this month, the BOME attorney never mentioned HIPAA violations when summarizing the Board’s concerns. The physician chairing the panel didn’t mention HIPAA violations either.
One of Dr. Ibsen’s chronic pain patients from 2013 provided an affidavit stating:
Information, pictures, and names of chronic pain patients who committed suicide, have been public knowledge for a number of years. … There was a conference put on by the Helena Department of Public Health & Human Services in 2018. A few of us chronic pain patients that belong to an organization called “Don’t Punish Pain” were invited to be on a panel. We talked about, (six) chronic pain patients just in Montana! We held up their pictures as we said each of their names.
But the affidavit wasn’t needed. The panel voted to terminate the investigation. This might end the Board’s persecution of Dr. Ibsen, but he will always be haunted by the memories of pain patients who suffered so much that they took their own lives.
Ibsen’s story is emblematic of a broader pattern: regulators and law enforcement drive physicians out of pain management, leaving patients nowhere to turn. His decision to stop prescribing opioids after Dr. Christensen’s conviction—out of fear that he could be next—shows the chilling effect of aggressive prosecution. And the tragic outcome for his former patients mirrors what has happened nationwide as pain management has been criminalized.”
Experts in the article argue that this practice is often based on flawed and unscientific guidelines, like the Morphine Milligram Equivalent Daily Dose (MME), and represents an unethical overreach into the physician’s scope of practice, eroding the doctor-patient relationship and sometimes leading to patient suicide.
BEHAVIOR FUELED BY A MISGUIDINGLY FLAWED REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT
Expert analysis within the source material argues that this practice represents a dangerous overreach of the pharmacist’s role, undermining the physician’s diagnosis without a proper medical examination.
This behavior is fueled by a flawed regulatory environment, including the misapplication of CDC Opioid Guidelines and the use of the scientifically unsound Morphine Milligram Equivalent (MME) metric.
Furthermore, aggressive policing by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has cultivated a climate of fear among pharmacies, discouraging the dispensing of necessary pain medication. The consequences are severe, leading to the erosion of the doctor-patient relationship, increased patient suffering, patient suicides, and a potential rise in the use of illicit street drugs.
Ultimately, the article advocates against overly burdensome regulations and profiling of legitimate pain patients, which has been exacerbated by the aggressive policing of community pharmacies and a misunderstanding of pain pathophysiology
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