To vastly oversimplify Reynold's position, PRN believes activities within the scope of doctor-patient relationships (prescribing of opioid pain medication) should be exempt from the Controlled Substances Act. Her thesis is that the Federal Government has no right to interfere with treatment of pain by physicians.

Reynolds testified before Congress on the topic of pain treatment and the effects of the Bush administration's escalation of prosecutions of physicians prescribing pain medication. PRN claims the overzealous prosecutions have resulted in a chilling effect on physicians treating pain, making them reluctant to provide patients with adequate pain treatment. This in turn reduces the general availability of adequate pain treatment leaving many patients in unnecessary pain.

Reynolds became interested in the case of Dr. Stephen Schneider and his wife Linda. The Schneider's operated a clinic in Wichita, Kansas. They were raided and charged with narcotics violations related to prescriptions for pain medication to patients. Their patients were abandoned when prosecutors shut down the clinic. The prosecutors threw in the traditional additional charges of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid (when prosecutors charge physicians with pain medication offenses, they throw in the fraud charges as an convenient enhancement under the reasoning that the prescriptions are for other than medical purposes, thus the fees for those services were fraudulent). The case has bogged down because Federal Judge Monti Belot tried to limit the number of patient deaths AUSA Tanya Treadway could include in the case against the Schneiders. Apparently, Treadway, in the usual strategy of federal prosecutors in these cases, simply tried to charge the Schneiders with causing the death of all patients who died while under their care.

Belot ruled that the government could only include a few cases under that strategy. This angered Treadway, and she filed an appeal which has delayed the trial.

Reynolds brought the PRN message to Schneider's patients' and began to work in the Wichita area educating the public about the alternative view of pain treatment and the government's policies. This infuriated Treadway, and she has worked steadfastly to have PRN and Reynolds silenced and barred from communicating with anyone involved in the case. Treadway has filed motions claiming Reynolds has a "sycophantic" or "parasitic" relationship with the Schneiders.

Apparently, Treadway has decided to take her attack on Reynolds to a new level. She has issued a subpoena to Reynolds to appear before a federal grand jury:

The six page subpoena asks for all correspondence regarding the Schneider medical clinic or the Schneiders and includes a long list of individuals including many local attorneys.
It also asks for documents including checks, bank statements and credit card statements, copies of all telephone bills, and a movie shown to Schneider patients.

Reynolds and PRN are performing activist work in a narrowly defined area in which they have experience and expertise. They seek to educate the public in general, and specifically patients, about how the drug war has violently and indifferently imposed the government's power into the most important relationship people depend on for their health -- their relationship with their doctor.

PRN assists and supports physicians who are charged by drug warriors for legitimately treating pain. AUSA Treadway is engaged in a rather transparent effort to silence Reynolds through harassment and intimidation. Are federal prosecutors allowed to use their power to silence political activists and patient advocates? What is Treadway afraid Reynolds or PRN will accomplish? Why is it so important that this small, underfunded and largely benevolent activist organization be silenced? What do they not want you to hear?