Quick question.

What gives the Drug Enforcement Administration the right to determine what pain medications elderly people should be getting, when they should get it, and who gives it to them?

Kohl wants to change DEA rules that allow pharmacists to dispense drugs to nursing home patients only with a verbal or written prescription from a doctor. Advocates say this results in unnecessary medication delays because most nursing facilities do not have a full-time doctor on staff and may have trouble reaching a doctor at crucial moments.

A DEA crackdown last year against pharmacies that allowed nurses to place orders for painkillers without a written prescription brought new focus to the issue.

Excuse me, but isn't this a medical issue?

Or are senior citizens suffering from pain in rest homes now considered criminal suspects? I have no doubt that the DEA would say that it isn't trying to deny rest home patients pain relief, but that the goal is to stop the illegal diversion of drugs to the black market. If so, then why are they not simply going after the people who they determine to be actually diverting and selling the drugs? Instead, by making it harder for everyone else to get them (under the guise of crime prevention), they're sending a clear message that they consider everyone who supplies or needs pain meds to be a potential suspect.

Do they really think a single drug-diverting criminal entrepreneur will be deterred by this harassment of law abiding people in pain and their caregivers? Has not history shown that drug criminals who flout the laws will simply adjust their tactics as needed? (If anything, they might see this as another opportunity to make more money if street prices go up.)

The DEA's tactics remind me of the silly (and largely discredited) idea that making it tougher to buy guns will stop criminals from getting them.

Pain relief prevention will not prevent crime.