A national pain relief group is rallying to the defense of a Kansas doctor indicted on federal charges that he ran a "pill mill" from his Haysville clinic.

The New Mexico-based Pain Relief Network says it plans to file a
civil lawsuit in Wichita federal court alleging the Controlled Substances Act as applied to doctors and patients is unconstitutional.

Dr. Stephen J. Schneider and his wife, nurse Linda K. Schneider, have a February 26th trial date on counts including conspiracy, unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, health care fraud, illegal monetary transactions and money laundering.

Pain Relief Network president Siobhan Reynolds says that since 2002, the group has been involved with 15 cases filed by federal prosecutors against pain treating physicians.

The Kansas Board of Healing Arts scheduled a January 15th hearing on its motion for an emergency suspension of Schneider's medical license.