About three years ago I was severely injured in a hit-and-run collision. A group of teenagers in a stolen SUV slammed into my driver's side door and left me with a debilitating back injury. The spinal disc at T7/T8 developed a bulge, and L5/S1 burst which sent fragments into the surrounding tissues. Despite having surgery to repair the damage, a large amount of scar tissue formed and crushed the S1 nerve root. I still require a cane to walk and I live in severe pain every day. 

For me, opioid (narcotic) pain medications are critical. The meds make the pain tolerable; they allow me to live a somewhat normal life. The same is true for millions of other Americans who are forced to live with severe pain on a daily basis. 

About two years ago, the DEA started their "prescription drug crackdown" because of overdose deaths caused by a select few people abusing and diverting medication. As is typical of so many agencies with un-checked power, fear and bullying have become the main tactics employed. Good doctors are being threatened, frightened, persecuted, punished, and even jailed for prescribing narcotic pain medication to patients like me. Pharmacists and pharmacy wholesalers are targeted with the same ferocity as the prescribers (fines of several millions of dollars, license suspensions and revocations, and even criminal prosecution have become common).

As a result of this DEA witch-hunt, doctors and pharmacists all over the country are refusing to write/fill narcotic medications out of fear; fear of losing their practices, licenses, and freedom. 

This draconian rule of DEA terror is causing millions of legitimate pain patients to suffer needlessly. Every day, patients like me are denied medication and treated like druggies for simply wanting relief from the constant agony that we suffer. Unless a person has lived with severe chronic pain, it is impossible to understand how bad it really is. Thousands of patients have chosen to end their lives rather than suffer constantly. I, like so many other patients, am a good person; my only wish is to have a reasonably good quality of life without being in pain 24/7. 

The DEA needs to back off! I have no problem with the DEA investigating doctors and patients who divert and abuse narcotics, but they have absolutely no business interfering in the health care of legitimate patients; my health is between me, my doctor, and my pharmacist.

Imagine, for a moment, watching someone you love suffering with unbearable pain simply because a bunch of federal drug cops decided to butt-in and prevent your loved one's doctor from providing proper medical care; for millions of Americans, this is already a reality.  

The DEA should be stopping cartels from importing kilograms of cocaine; they should not be destroying the lives of American Citizens seeking pain relief from doctors. 

Please support my petition in asking President Obama and Congress to severely limit the DEA's ability to interfere with and intimidate medical professionals and their patients.