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Several State Medical Boards "have adopted guidelines or regulations for pain management … that give varying degrees of guidance to physicians. The guidelines and regulations seek to raise the consciousness of the medical profession and to reassure licensees that they should treat pain, malignant and nonmalignant, with the appropriate medications.

…A distinct legal difference also exists between the regulatory authority of guidelines and regulations. Guidelines have no force of law. Guidelines are merely suggestions for conduct. Black's Law Dictionary defines regulation as a "rule or order having force of law issued by executive authority of government." In evaluating the relative utility of guidelines versus regulations, regulations have the advantage of being legally enforceable. They give patients reassurance that physicians must treat pain according to a standard of care or face consequences from the state medical board. Regulations can give the state medical board the authority to discipline a physician who fails to treat pain as well as provide guidance on how to treat. Guidelines cannot be enforced.
Chris Stern Hyman, Pain Management and Disciplinary Action: How Medical Boards Can Remove Barriers to Effective Treatment, 24 J. LAW MED. & ETHICS 338 (1996) [HTML] [PDF]

Federation of State Medical Boards’ Model Guidelines for the Use of Controlled Substances for the Treatment of Pain, May 1998 [HTML]

Database of Statutes, Regulations, & Other policies (PPSG, University of Wisconsin) [HTML]
Annual Review of State Pain Policies 2000 (PPSG, University of Wisconsin) [HTML]