Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D.
Baptist Medical Missionary & Family Practitioner
Myers Foundation Christian Family Health Centers
P.O. Box 269 Belzoni, MS 39038
662-392-2016 662-247-1471 662-247-4767 Fax
e-mail: JuneteenthDOC@yahoo.com web site: www.MyersFoundation.net
May 11, 2015
Senator Thad Cochran
State of Mississippi
113 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
RE: Over Prosecution of African American Physicians by Law Enforcement
Dear Thad:
The over prosecution of black physicians by law enforcement has hit home with me in Mississippi. I am unable to work at the Delta Health Center in Mound Bayou in the Mississippi Delta because my Mississippi DEA certificate is being held up. This was because of unfair and discriminatory action taken against me by the Oklahoma Board of Narcotics (OBNDD) and the Oklahoma DEA earlier this year (www.americanpaininstitute.org – www.painpatientscoalition.com).
It is my understanding that my Mississippi DEA registration will be held up for at least one year.
I will have to reapply for my Mississippi DEA sometime in March or April of 2016.
As one of the leading grass roots advocates for chronic pain treatment in America, I cannot begin to express to you my anger with how I have been mistreated as an activist and black physician by law enforcement over this entire situation. I consider myself a victim of a black medical Ferguson. Even the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s office considers me a victim of fraud. Racism is real in our criminal justice system.
I have not been arrested or accused of any criminal violations. The punishment levied against me by the OBNDD is not justified. I am being blamed for the actions of three other white physicians at the clinic where I was employed for several years. I consider Oklahoma one of the most racist states in the country. With the recent death of my mother, I no longer have any desire to practice medicine in Oklahoma again.
The decision on when I can receive my DEA certificate rest solely with the DEA.
As you know, we have a new Attorney General, Loretta Lynch. It appears that she wants to confront the injustice African Americans are experiencing with law enforcement. I hope that she will also deal with the over prosecution of black physicians by law enforcement, including the DOJ.
The late Frank McCune, M.D., M.B.A., Chairman of the National Juneteenth Medical Commission, the late Atty. and Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, Chokwe Lumumba and I conducted a panel discussion at the National Medical Association (NMA) regional conference in 2012 concerning the over prosecution of black physicians by law enforcement and the DOJ.
The need for my services as a physician in America’s poorest geographical region goes without question. I have lived and provided medical care in the Mississippi Delta as the first ordained and commissioned medical missionary in the history of the African American church for over twenty five years. My hiatus in Oklahoma was due to the need to care for my late elderly mother who died of cancer last year.
I have enclosed a letter to Michelle Marie Leonhart, Administrator of the DEA, requesting that my DEA certificate in Mississippi not be held up in order for me to provide health care to the poorest of the poor in America. I also expressed to her my concern over the injustice of my situation in Oklahoma.
The country is focusing on the injustice of the treatment of African Americans black males by law enforcement. I believe it is also the time to deal with the situation for black physicians.
I would appreciate you contacting Atty. General Loretta Lynch and DEA Administrator Marie Leonhart concerning my Mississippi DEA certificate and the disproportionate number of black physicians prosecuted by the DOJ.
Look forward to discussing the details of my situation with you and your staff in the near future.
I will be happy to provide whatever documentation concerning my situation that you need.
Thank you for your consideration of this important matter.
Sincerely,
Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D.
cc: Lawrence Sanders, M.D., President, National Medical Association (NMA)
enclosures
1. Letter to President Barack Obama (dated 5/11/15)
2. Letter to Atty. General Loretta Lynch (dated 5/11/15)
3. Letter to DEA Administrator Michelle Marie Leonhart (dated 5/11/15)
4. Copy of letter from Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office (dated 8/25/14)
top