Here is a recent article stating that legal opiates filled is down to 34 doses per adult.
Hope in the drug crisis: New data shows prescription opioid use fell at a historic rate last year
If one presumes that the minimum treatment for a intractable chronic pain pt’s treatment would be TWO LONG ACTING DOSES PER DAY… would “take care of” < 50% of the estimated 20-35 million intractable chronic pain pts. Maybe this why many hospitals are giving post surgery pts Tylenol & Motrin because they know that the day is coming when opiates may not be available at all.
I case you haven’t noticed … the DEA has been ABSENT and TOTALLY SILENT in regards to any/all meetings with HHS, FDA, CDC and others..
Oregon recently rescinded their rule that all chronic pain pts on Medicaid has to be off opiates by the end of the year – but if the DEA continues to cut production quota… being prescribed pain meds that there is little/no availability.. does Oregon’s action really mean anything to those seeking pain treatment.
Here is a story that suggests that the DEA is using the state’s PMP database to extract fines out of pharmacies https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190416/cvs-to-pay-535000-for-filling-forged-prescriptions
39 forged Rxs filled at several CVS stores in Rhode Islands… and how did the DEA find all of these forged Rxs in several stores ? Perhaps one CVS Pharmacist caught one and they turned it over to police or DEA and they went data mining in the State’s PMP database to see what other stores have filled the same C-II from the same doctor and then went to the particular store to look at the Rx.. to see if it is a forged Rx..
If you also notice that the DEA is fabricating cases against prescribers based on GROSS NUMBERS.. here is one in Munster Indiana
Munster doctor sentenced for over-prescribing pain pills
this doc was the 9th largest prescriber of CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES in Indiana and largest in Lake County, but they got him to PLEAD guilty to prescrobing hydrocodone, an opioid, for non-medical purposes. Nothing in the news article which indicated the reason for their original data mining of the state’s PMP (INSPECT).
Maybe the chronic pain community should look at to what is now starting to happen after a couple of states that have passed anti-abortion laws where abortions can’t be preformed after fetal heart beat can be heard – around 6 weeks… normally before the woman even knows that she is pregnant. There is already talk of LAWSUITS being filed, because it is believed that these state laws are in conflict with the Supreme Court decision of Roe v Wade. The outcome of this/these lawsuits will just validate that politicians can create laws that are UNCONSTITUTIONAL and unless they are challenged in our court system… they will be enforced.
Then we have HR 6 – Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 – National Key Vote Which throws 8 BILLION toward treating substance abuse and in this Congress that is highly partisan… this bill got ONE NO VOTE in the SENATE and NINE NO VOTES in the House.. That means that 98% of Congress VOTED FOR THIS BILL.
Until the chronic pain community gets the attention of this Administration, Congress and DOJ/DEA and drag them into the conversation… the path that the chronic pain community is on … IS A DEAD END !
Filed under: General Problems
Good Morning Steve, I belong to You naturally,the DPPP,NPR,And PNN And the one I really like is Dr.Bloome from the Science Council.Yea Steve will donate to DPPP and I did join CIAAG.Have a Good Day
Unfortunately, Dr. Steve, we have been talking to brick walls and we
Can’t break through. I listened to that entire meeting for (2) days, those people have absolutely no idea, even after everything they heard from those poor patients, what CPP go through. We are not their priority, and until they actually have to suffer the way we do they will never care what happens to us.
Our government is on a kick, a Health kick. If your on opioids your an addict, CPP’S have been on opioids for over 20-30yrs without any problems until the addicts started showing up in Doctor’s offices.
Doctors took an Oath to protect their patients from harm, they failed.
Nurses & Doctors refuse to treat patients for Pain.
Hospital fail to treat their patients with respect.
Each one of the above have a moral obligation to do the job each was
Assigned. They should each be sued for failing to do that job and for
Failing that patient.
Hi Steve,With all the research Lauren and associates did and courageously went to Washington to help millions of us is huge.But I agree with you the 50 million CPP,s have to speak with one voice and all move in same direction.We need an excellent lawyer willing to bring this together and donations,my goodness people can donate 5:00 dollars at the least.I just pray we aren’t being pacified and told what we want to hear.It,s been a long 3 years and the stress and suffering has to end.There are a lot of pain groups,I wish they could all come together.
Frankly, I am seriously pissed off at being accused, basically of doing nothing & of trying to do nothing. Since I don’t have a few billion dollars to hire attorneys & congresspersons –I barely have money for food– & I can’t fly to Washington to testify before Congress (as if they’d let me) wtf does the author (p-steve?) suggest we do besides writing constantly to everyone in sight, including politicians, media people (I just did an interview this week for the radio), testifying at state meetings (including two this week), assisting some of the best pain advocates in this state, writing online, etc?
Please, do tell us what to do, since our efforts don’t meet your standards, whoever the author is.
Easy, Dr. Steve would never give up. He is one of our very most active advocates and writers by virtue of his ability to access and analyze and separate the garbage from the truth, etc. The Steve is just covering all bases.
Most of this is about the tactics of our enemies so we can define what we need to do next. There is what would be best; The attention of the Administration. And the conspicuous absence of the DEA/DOJ after their vigorous ‘witch hunting’ and pharmacy suing and then their illegal uses of that PMP thing, which can serve no legitimate purpose.
‘Tracking’ was never a problem it just places it at the finger tips of that corrupt, adulterated, lazy, bottom feeding and blood sucking appendage of law enforcement (our other ‘President’, co-President) the DEA/DOJ.
Yes I authored this piece… if you noticed.. everything on my blog that I write or opinion on the text is in GREEN.. I have went back to the post and inserted the graphic
that I normally use “Just my opinion” so that there is not ambiguous as to who wrote those words. please feel free to point out any of the facts stated are FALSE ! Money is the “grease” that makes our political system function. lobbyists spend 9+ million/day to try and influence the 535 members of Congress. The up coming Presidential election .. the two contendors will collectively probably spend close to TWO BILLION. Members of Congress – especially tight/important Senate or House races can spend up to 50 million to win. Yes, they claim that 90% of chronic pain families are struggling financially but were is the 100+ million chronic pain pts ? a few years back a chronic pain pt and myself try to establish a legal defense fund.. our efforts were will publicized… our goal was to get 5% – 10% of the chronic pain community to make a ONE TIME CONTRIBUTION of the costs of a fast food meal $5 -$7.50 that would have amassed upwards of 75 million.. after 30 days.. a couple of dozen people had made a contribution a total of $600+ including two people that contributed $100 each. It would have taken upwards of $3000 just to created a non profit… so we folded our tent and refunded the monies.. In July my blog will start its EIGHTH YEAR and I have seen people come with all the good intentions of MAKING A DIFFERENCE and after 6-12 months they disappear.. BECAUSE. the chronic pain community has never been united… there is so much infighting… every year we have a couple of hundred more FB pages devoted to pain and/or disease with related pain… Such division helps who ? So what should you and the rest of the chronic pain community do ? Come together, unify, put your “pennies” together and hire a good/appropriate law firm and do what they tell you to do… speak with ONE VOICE.
The ability of the powerful to bring Stupid and Theft and Lies to bear on any and every subject in any civilization today is simply too much for these folks to resist. Unhappy themselves the stick fingers in pies as revenge.