Pleasure, Pain, Physicians and Police: The law of controlled substances and the practice of medicine

Presented by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York's Special Committee on Drugs and the Law. As the United States of America approaches one hundred years of federal drug control, the Committee on Drugs and the Law presents a unique and unprecedented examination of the rationale of U.S. drug control policy, the federal statute that governs psychoactive substances from codeine to LSD, and the collateral effects of drug control policy upon the practice of medicine. In 1970, the Controlled Substances Act replaced the previous patchwork of federal drug control statutes enforced by the Department of the Treasury with a comprehensive regulatory system under the supervision of the Department of Justice intended to limit the availability of all psychoactive substances throughout the United States. Under the Controlled Substances Act, the Department of Justice determines the medical utility, safety, and abuse potential of psychoactive substances (with the exception of nicotine, alcohol, and caffeine) and classifies them in one of five progressively less restrictive “schedules.” Substances in Schedule I (such as marijuana and Ecstasy) may never be used, even under medical supervision, while substances in the lower schedules (such as painkillers, stimulants, and tranquilizers) are available by prescription. However, the Department of Justice is also authorized to take legal action against physicians based on a determination that their prescription practices exceed the bounds of the legitimate practice of medicine. This authority manifests most prominently in administrative action against or criminal prosecution of physicians for pain management practices. The award of power to federal police to determine the medical utility of psychoactive substances as well as the bounds of the legitimate practice of medicine exists alongside a parallel set of controls: the traditional regulation of the practice of medicine by state medical boards and offices of professional conduct, authorities that may also act against physicians because of prescription practices. Join the Committee on Drugs and the Law for a discussion of the relationship between the law, science, and the realities of medical practice featuring presentations by three distinguished experts. Speakers Marcus Reidenberg, M.D., F.A.C.P. Professor of Pharmacology, Medicine, and Public Health, and Head, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medical College Joseph Spillane, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of History, University of Florida. Buford Terrell, J.D., LL.M. Professor of Law (ret.), South Texas College of Law