“Welcome to PRN
Pain Relief Network was founded in 2002 in response to the Bush Administration’s crackdown on pain treating physicians. The Department of Justice launched its “Oxycontin Action Plan” in response to a DEA press campaign that asserted that Purdue Pharmaceuticals had unleashed an “epidemic” of drug abuse across the country, particularly in rural Appalachia (See The DEA’s OxyContin Action Plan: An Unproven Drug Epidemic).

Much like previous drug panics (See Agency of Fear: Opiates and Political Power in America), the Federal Government sought to frighten the public. Because this drug panic coincided with the launching of the Bush Administration’s war in the Middle East, the campaign was highly successful.

Doctors who treated chronic or intractable pain with opioid pain medications were literally rounded up and put on trial, the government demanding that they serve decades, sometimes hundreds of years in prison. Medical professionals not yet targeted, responded by fleeing the discipline of pain management in droves. Clinics across America have become tertiary medical facilities of the federal apparatus, essentially operating at the whim of DEA. Behind the scenes, and sometimes out front,

PRN represents the solitary organized response to this onslaught.”

I mean to give you a +1 karma, but clicked the wrong one.

Sorry!

Rob,

I have Modest Needs hit my checking account once a month for my contribution and have done so for the last five years. I was browsing the site and read an application for help – a mother in Oregon needed $398 for a prosthetic eye for her three year old daughter because she had outgrown her first one. Being a new father at the time, I ended up in tears and in two clicks, I was regularly contributing. You choose to direct your contributions to individual applicants and Modest Needs emails you the thank you letter from the applicant. No matter what your mood, you’re instantly lifted when reading the thank yous.

It’s an amazing charity.

Groups like IJ — those that focus on action rather then “persuasion” — are better models going forward. But Cato is just throwing money down a hole.

Hey KB Craig, It’s great that you are active AND a member of LEAP. I may join you one day (I’m in a related field, but not a sworn officer at this time). Would you mind sharing some tips about your decision to join LEAP while on the job? Did you run it by the command staff first? Did you get any shit? Did they place any restrictions on what you can say or do in your capacity as a member of LEAP. I would really appreciate any feedback you could provide me with, because I would really like to do this if I’m hired.