The DEA's Balancing Act to Ensure Public Health and Safety.

In their article in this issue, Reidenberg and Willis assert that there are multiple barriers to the adequate treatment of pain and that one of these barriers is fear of government action against a physician who prescribes opioids for patients in pain.(1) At the same time, the authors state that the risk of a physician's being punished by either a state medical board or the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for a patient in pain with adequate medical record documentation is very small.