This story about a doctor specializing in pain treatment really got to me:

The popular perception, particularly among board examiners and federal regulators, is that chronic pain patients are "legal drug addicts" and their physicians are "pill pushers," Noblett said. Opioids are addictive, and in the past decade, painkillers such as OxyContin have become more abused and used recreationally, a hot party drug for kids who have increasingly become overdose victims. Cutting up time-release pills for quicker rushes or mixing them with alcohol can be lethal.

But for Noblett and other chronic pain patients, oxycodone is a miracle drug when used correctly. Now the federal government is cracking down, and the state medical board is following that lead in Texas. The medical board, which got in deep trouble a few years ago for its lax treatment of corrupt and incompetent doctors, has changed its tune — so much so that one national doctor’s group believes it has gone overboard in the other direction, suspending and removing doctors’ licenses without cause. Caught in the crossfire are the patients.

"There is a huge difference between a drug addict and a legitimate, bona fide chronic pain patient," said Noblett, who sustained severe back injuries in the Vietnam war that gave him decades of agony. "A drug addict takes medication in order to cop out, to escape. A pain patient takes medication so that they can get back on their feet and be a productive member of society and support and provide for their families."

Take the time to read the whole story.  The parts about the Vietnam vet who led the charge fighting for his doctor was probably the most touching, and the saddest in the end.  This is the War on Drugs^TM at it's absolute worst, and is costing real innocent people the ability to live their lives to any reasonable degree.  Since this doctor lost his license, 4 of his patients have committed suicide because the pain they deal with is so bad, and there are no other doctors in their area willing to risk prescibing the pain medication they need.

This is not an isolated case either.