DEAR ADVOCATE ARMY
Those with chronic painful conditions have a real reason to celebrate this holiday season! Last week two courts discredited widely accepted propaganda regarding opioid medications. One California and another Oklahoma Supreme Court judge illustrated how misleading this widely accepted and heavily promoted propaganda really is.
Both of these court decisions recognize that under-treatment of pain is a serious public health issue and that medicinal use of prescription opioids rarely led to addiction.
Oh but wait? Didn’t Andrew Kolodny and Anna Lembke (along with thousands of other advocates, politicians, and leading stakeholders), use this propaganda in order to promote their own agendas both nationally and internationally?
For years, special interest groups spent millions (if not billions) of dollars advancing propaganda. They would claim; organizations working to educate the public that opioid addiction was not a common outcome for patients who take it as prescribed were just “Pharma front groups” that needed to be “taken out” at all costs.
These special interest groups spent years marketing the idea that citizens should not receive opioid medications, as a mere exposure would lead to addiction and substance use disorder. They created slideshow presentations that they would use to discredit existing research; using statements not founded in the truth. These statements, in-fact, went directly against the evidence-base.
They successfully lobbied for hundreds of regulatory and legal changes restricting medical access to pain medications. They provided false testimony. Most recently, Ms. Lembke testified that over 25% of patients who use opioids medicinally become addicted; however, the judge corrected her and stated, “it was more like less than 5%.”
So why was her testimony not discredited entirely? Why was she not charged with perjury? These cases are worth billions of dollars and Ms. Lembke provided known false facts in an attempt to sway the outcome of the case. We cannot overlook these serious acts of corruption.
In fact, Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, noted in a 2016 review that, “addiction occurs in only a small percentage of persons who are exposed to opioids – even among those with preexisting vulnerabilities”.
So, the stakeholders have known since at least 2016 that patients who use opioid medications were not abusing their supply. Yet, the CDC proceeded with the issuance of their “Opioid Prescribing Guidelines” that same year; resulting in the mass-forced tapering of millions of private citizens. Many of whom have committed suicide since.
Now that this dangerous propaganda is verified to be just that (dangerous propaganda), what will happen next? Will our lawmakers do the right thing? Will they change course in their public-health strategy to address illicit drug use and addiction in America?
It is time our nation came to terms with the facts. We have pursued a failed public-health initiative for well over a decade. This is largely due to our nations’ leaders relying on inaccurate false data and propaganda. Propaganda that was created, marketed, and promoted by the very organizations that partnered with our lawmakers to assist in solving these very issues.
Moving forward, we as a nation must come together and create solutions that work for all patients. The continual use of propaganda is unacceptable and not working. This court ruling brings hope for the future that the truth is now coming forth. It is in the truth that we, as a nation, will find solutions that benefit all.
Remember, Together We Are #CIAAGStrong!!!
Thank you,
Lauren L. Deluca, CPCU, API, AINS
Founding President & Executive Director
Chronic Illness Advocacy & Awareness Group dba CIAAG
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PO Box 371, Rutland MA 01543 – USA
Filed under: General Problems
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