Not DEA'd Yet: Gonzales v. Oregon

Baron takes a look at the implications on the case of Gonzales v. Oregon, in which the US Supreme Court affirmed decisions of two lower federal courts and made permanent a 2001 injunction against federal prosecution of physicians who prescribe narcotics under the terms of the act. Among other concerns, rather than seeking criminal convictions only in cases that meet the Controlled Substances Act's requirement that drugs have been intentionally diverted outside "the course of professional practice," prosecutors have sought and in some cases achieved convictions where they have been able to prove that prescribing painkillers for a particular patient did not meet the civil standard of good medicine--situations constituting medical malpractice.