Letters to Congress
Janice Reynolds
I recently sent a letter imploring people to write their Congress men and women and others’ As a reminder (I will copy and paste for ease).
Last night I saw an article in the Dorchester Reporter that Hilary Clinton is now taking up the cry for investigating the FDA and the increasing prescription drug addiction epidemic. http://www.dotnews.com/2015/clinton-healey-walsh-talk-opioid-epidemic-dot-forum. What is incomprehensible to me is her statement, “We have got to take another look at the ease with which the opioids are being prescribed," she said. "I am very concerned that the FDA has approved a form of opioids for children. And I find that absolutely incomprehensible."
Senator King had a press release after I wrote about this last. http://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/king-colleagues-call-for-investigation-into-fda-decision-on-oxycontin What is really telling though is this statement:
While other agencies of our government, including the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, are speaking loudly about the desperate need to stop the overprescribing of opioids and scourge of related overdose deaths, the FDA has continued to approve and expand the populations who use these addictive and deadly drugs. The FDA’s most recent action, which will increase the likelihood that children as young as 11 years old will be prescribed OxyContin, is a troubling example of the disconnect between the FDA approval process and the realities of this deadly epidemic.
Do you think Hilary Clinton’s source was likely the same (possibly with PROP thrown into the mix? Notice also people with pain where not mentioned at all.
I think it is imperative that people with pain and providers who haven’t sipped the Kool-Aid write their Senators and other Senator’s as well (throw in Congressmen for good measure) as to what the truth is.
1. Children are already being prescribed OxyContin for pain. Why safety shouldn’t be improved with research based approval from the FDA. There is no evidence to support approval increases addiction. Also do they believe children do not have pain that requires an opioid or that children should suffer with pain?
2. With abuse deterrent opioids and increased cost a rapid shift to heroin is taking place so where does this increasing prescription drug epidemic come from and where is the evidence?
3. 3The CDC’s alarmist attitude and claims that addiction is caused by opioids being prescribed is not based on fact (evidence) but rather on anecdotal stories and opinion of non-experts in pain management.
4. 4100 million people with living with pain should have evoked some type of compassion from the CDC; after all addiction and obesity are treated as “epidemics). One would have to believe the CDC is reacting with prejudice and the stigma of having pain has for so long invoked. I can’t recall the CDC ever saying anything about people with pain except in regards to addiction (let them eat cake).
5. They need to hear the stories of people with pain not able to get their medication which gives them some quality of life, the difficulty of even find a provider; the harmful byproducts of mandates urine testing, the providers who are caring for patients with pain appropriately and with compassion, and have to stop because of the DEA or state regulation. The need to hear the stories and I mean really hear them (not second hand).
6. They need to be told what they are doing listening only to the CDC and PROP instead of PROMPT, experts in pain management, and people with pain is really harming those people who are their constituents.
If you haven’t written your letters to your Congress Men and Women and others please do so. If you have, please consider writing again as I have learned something else which causes me (and it should cause everyone) grave concern. This senate committee who is investigating the FDA, looking for answers to the continued expanding of the prescription drug epidemic, and believes there are too many pain medications available (as told to me by an intern via a phone call); Sens. Joe Manchin (WVa), Ed Markey (Mass), Tammy Baldwin (Wisc), Dianne Feinstein (Calif), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Bill Nelson (Fla), Richard Blumenthal (Conn) and Angus King (Maine) have sent a letter to the CDC. “With the CDC under fire from pain patients and advocacy groups [as well as pain management organizations and other organizations such as the ACS], eight U.S. Senators have written a letter to Frieden expressing their support for the CDC’s guidelines.
We are committed to doing everything in our power to bring this (opioid) epidemic under control because our communities are hurting. The problem will only grow worse if we fail to act,” the letter says. “We applaud the CDC for developing prescribing guidelines and for your efforts in the fight to end prescription drug abuse. We strongly urge you to maintain this commonsense approach when you release the final guidelines early next year.”
This is a quote from a Pain News Network article http://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2015/11/18/legal-foundation-accuses-cdc-of-blatant-violations-of-federal-law. If the millions of health care providers who support appropriate pain management (and care about people with persistent pain) as well at least some of the 100 million people with persistent pain write, maybe a tragedy can be averted. We are their constituents as well.
Janice
Cindy Steinberg
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Pain Community" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pain-communit...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to pain-co...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pain-community/!%26!AAAAAAAAAAAuAAAAAAAAACvGu8%2BL7wtCheyHPDEoswkBAMO2jhD3dRHOtM0AqgC7tuYAAAAAAA4AABAAAACKeTun0FHhRIOC9Tx0Du1MAQAAAAA%3D%40comcast.net.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.