Efforts to Combat Prescirption Drug Abuse-Should Not Limit Access to-Compounded Pain Medicines

The practice of pharmaceutical compounding may involve the dispensing of controlled substances, a subset of prescription drug products. In such cases, the Drug Enforcement Administration has authority to regulate and enforce pharmacy compounding in the U.S. through the Controlled Substances Act and Drug Enforcement Administration regulations, although the Drug Enfocement Administration expressly acknowledges that the agency does not establish medical standards or guidelines on the treatment of pain. There is a need to balance the interests of law enforcement in reducing the potential for prescription drug abuse without adversely affecting the need to ensure appropriate availability and access to pain medicine. Compounding pharmacies provide an important service to practitioners and their patients suffering from chronic pain and debilitating illness. without access to pain medicine, a patient's needs would go unmet, resulting in unnecessary pain ad suffering.