An article on Thehill.com by Mark Rothstein, J.D. and Julia Irzyk, J.D was published today. The Opioid Crackdown Leaves Chronic Pain Patients in Limbo includes some truths, but it’s a real shame they ended it with worthless recommendations.  They need to be informed of where the problem actually lies.

Interesting that Julia’s birth name is Rothstein. I wonder if they are related.  Also, the name Rothstein is of German Jewish ethnicity. So they should especially be informed, if they haven’t recognized it already, of the Hitlerist attacks on doctors, minorities, and the expendable populations of citizens.

In the beginning of their article they point out that prescription writing has been reduced by almost half since 2012, while overdose deaths have more than doubled and pain patients have been abandoned. But notwithstanding the impact of those truths, they then move into continuing the misinformation that won’t help bring pain management back.

The umbrella untruth that they still spread is that opioids are the basic cause of addiction, with phrases like “dangerous overprescribing of opioids” by doctors that are not pain management specialists.  Folks, you don’t have to be specialized in pain management to know how to prescribe opioids.

Then the coup de grace is that they then start talking CDC guidelines. Folks, the CDC guidelines are not the culprit, nor is changing them the solution. We have the solution here on DoC. They need to be informed and use their abilities to spread what WILL change the situation, not just chase the rabbit.

The REAL Solution

The elephant in the room is the Controlled Substance Act. This MUST be repealed. And the truth is that NO DRUG CAUSES ADDICTION!!  Drugs have been the target simply for racist, monetary, government motives.  I would hope that, with the right information at their fingertips, that these two prominent people in the media would take this and run with it.  So get your emails and tweets going to these two people, and point them to Doctorsofcourage.org

Here’s a quick example:

Dr. ___,
I appreciate your recognizing the problem with the current government attacks on opioids. But your conclusion and solution are not the answer. Opioids are simply the current government drug target, as cannabis was in 1970. Your pointing to the CDC guidelines is a rabbit chase that will get us nowhere. The answer is on www.doctorsofcourage.org.  Drugs themselves do not cause addiction. And until we recognize the REAL cause, the rate of addiction will continue to climb exponentially. I suggest to you that you recognize the elephant in the room—the Controlled Substance Act—and get on board with Doctors (and Patients) of Courage to get the real solution out to the public.  Thank you.

Contact Information:

Mark Rothstein, J.D.: mark.rothstein@louisville.edu

Dr. Rothstein is the Herbert F. Boehl Chair of Law and Medicine and Director of the Institute for Bioethics, Health Policy and Law at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.

Julia Irzyk, J.D.:  https://twitter.com/juliairzyk

Dr. Irzyk, is an advocate for individuals with disabilities and coauthor of “Disabilities and the Law”