Conclusion

Despite the availability of effective pain treatment, many pain patients receive inadequate treatment, if they receive treatment for pain at all. The importance of balancing regulatory control of opioids with the promotion of the legitimate medical use of opioids has previously been espoused. The optimal balance between the war on drugs and the war on pain, however, has yet to be struck. The war on drugs and the war on pain do not have to conflict with each other. Since pain-treating physicians are also on the front lines of contact with the small segment of would-be criminal prescription drug traffickers, physicians must work in concert with the goals of the DEA. The series of solutions enumerated in this Note would allow for a balance to be struck between the rights of pain patients and the need to stop diversion of opioid medications to illicit users without significantly hurting our nation's fight on either battlefront.

. Annemarie Daly Linares is a Juris Doctor Candidate (expected 2014) at Wayne State University Law School. Dr. Linares holds a Medical Doctor degree from the University of Michigan Medical School.