The bulk of my patients on chronic opiod medication are elderly with complex spinal disease with multiple compression fractures etc. They are not amenable to any more interventions. These folks feel very villified by the current regulatory invironment. 

Physicians must be free to treat and diagnose and finally give comfort to the suffering when there is no definative way to cure an individual.  The source of pills on the streets have largely been from a few unscrupulous physicians writing large number of prescriptions for nebulous reasons.  The sources of pills are largely drying up as shown by the rising use of heroin and on line designer drugs.  Please keep this in mind when drafting regulations. It could be your mother or father who needs treatment some day!.

Respectfully submitted,

Ronald L Schubert, MD