This is from a national DPPR member for a handout. The Real Facts Behind the “Opioid Crisis” and the Abandonment of Pain Patients:
● Andrew Kolodny and Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing – PROP (addiction specialists with no
experience treating pain) petitioned the FDA in 2012 to change opioid manufacturing guidelines for patients with
non-cancer pain, asking FDA to limit dosing to 100 MED and limit treatment to 90 days. FDA denied this request
in 2013 due to a lack of scientific evidence to support limiting usage or dosage and no evidence to suggest cancer
pain is different from non-cancer pain. Most patients treated with opioids on higher doses and long term
treatment do well and live productive lives without addiction or death.
● 2014 – Illicit fentanyl was added to other illicitly manufactured drugs such as heroin, hydrocodone, xanax, etc.
Addicts buy their drug of choice on the street not realizing it has fentanyl in it. Fentanyl is 50-100 times stronger
than morphine. Addicts began dying in mass quantities catching the attention of the media and the government.
● DEA stepped up enforcement on doctors and pharmacies, threatening and prosecuting doctors for “over
prescribing” opioids to pain patients.
● CDC published the 2016 opioid death report which falsely claimed pain patients were addicted and dying in
massive numbers even though historically pain patients are rarely addicted or involved in opioid-related deaths.
● CDC contracted with members from the anti-drug lobbying group PROP to help draft CDC guidelines for opioid
prescriptions written by primary care physicians even though CDC and PROP knew that illicitly manufactured
fentanyl and heroin was the cause of the crisis. CDC Guidelines were implemented by the states as rule rather
than guidelines as originally intended, forcing pain patients off their medication or to a lower, non-therapeutic
dosage. This was done in spite of CDC having no prescription regulatory power and FDA already telling PROP
there is no scientific evidence to suggest these limitations are necessary or useful.
● Pharmacies and insurance companies began limiting opioid quantities and/or refusing to fill opioid prescriptions
based on perceived addiction bias against patients with pain from all causes due to media/government
misinformation, namely the original 2016 CDC opioid death report and guidelines.
● FDA cut production of opioids creating shortages and leaving many hospitals, cancer patients, and pain patients
without medication to treat pain.
● In 2018, CDC finally issued a correction for the 2016 opioid death report admitting that the majority of the deaths
were from illicit fentanyl and heroin, not legal prescription pain pills. CDC and National Institute on Drug Abuse
(NIDA) concede pain patients are almost never involved in opioid-related deaths. According to SAMHSA 2016
and similar studies the addiction rate for pain patients is .8%. That means 99.2% do not get addicted.
● Government/regulators ignore CDC and NIDA statements, continue threatening doctors. Many doctors stopped
treating pain patients and many closed their practice due to fear of losing their license or being prosecuted. Many
pain patients are left with no treatment for pain leaving them to suffer in agony with no support.
● NIH, FDA, DEA, CMS, Medical Boards, States abandon pain patients based on CDC’s initial report and guidelines
implemented as rule because of the false ideology CDC created. The majority of drug addicts continue to get
their drugs on the street and are still dying with no help. All pain patients, including cancer patients, blamed for
illicit fentanyl and heroin addiction/overdoses and continue to suffer needlessly. Production of opioids scheduled
to be cut again which will create even more shortages for the few patients still able to get meds and for hospitals.
CMS due to implement CDC guidelines as rule for Medicare and Medicaid patients in 2019.
● PROP stands to gain millions in federal money for addiction treatment that will likely never be fully utilized
because pain patients are the ones targeted yet most are not addicted. Most of the real addicts do not see
doctors unless they OD, thus little access to treatment.Pain patients and providers need your support! Please call your state and federal
legislators, the Medical Board of California, DEA, FDA, CMS, and media and tell them to
protect pain patients and their doctors from unfair discrimination. Tell the DEA to
leave our doctors alone! Tell them to remove the CDC guidelines and allow access to
opioid treatment as allowed by the manufacturer’s guidelines. Spread the word!
dontpunishpainrally.com
dontpunishpainrally.com/docs/
Resources
FDA Refuses PROP’s Request To Limit Opioid Dosage and Usage
http://paindr.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/FDA_CDER_Response_to_Physicians_for_Responsible_Opioid_Prescribin
g_Partial_Petition_Approval_and_Denial.pdf
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/marvin-ross/doctors-evidence-pain-patients_a_23371118/
PROP Involved in Drafting CDC Guidelines
https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2015/9/21/prop-helped-draft-cdc-opioid-guidelines
http://nationalpainreport.com/cdc-opioid-prescribing-guideline-unintentional-consequences-8836710.html
Illicit Fentanyl on the Rise
https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/images/pbss/CDC-Fentanyl-overdoses-rise.pdf
https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates
CDC Admits Death Data Inaccurate
https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304265
http://www.clinicalpainadvisor.com/opioid-addiction/the-issues-with-the-cdc-guidelines-on-opioids-for-chronic-pain/article/5
24976/
Pain Reliever Use Disorder – SAMHSA
https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-FFR1-2016/NSDUH-FFR1-2016.htm#opioid4
Cochran Report – Rate of Addiction Rare
https://www.cochrane.org/CD006605/SYMPT_opioids-long-term-treatment-noncancer-pain
Living with CDC Opioid Guidelines
https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/treatments/pharmacological/opioids/living-cdc-opioid-guidelines
https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/treatments/pharmacological/opioids/inhumane-dangerous-game-forced-opioid
-reduction
The Myth That Prescriptions Caused The Opioid Crisis
https://amp-newsobserver-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/amp.newsobserver.com/
● Andrew Kolodny and Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing – PROP (addiction specialists with no
experience treating pain) petitioned the FDA in 2012 to change opioid manufacturing guidelines for patients with
non-cancer pain, asking FDA to limit dosing to 100 MED and limit treatment to 90 days. FDA denied this request
in 2013 due to a lack of scientific evidence to support limiting usage or dosage and no evidence to suggest cancer
pain is different from non-cancer pain. Most patients treated with opioids on higher doses and long term
treatment do well and live productive lives without addiction or death.
● 2014 – Illicit fentanyl was added to other illicitly manufactured drugs such as heroin, hydrocodone, xanax, etc.
Addicts buy their drug of choice on the street not realizing it has fentanyl in it. Fentanyl is 50-100 times stronger
than morphine. Addicts began dying in mass quantities catching the attention of the media and the government.
● DEA stepped up enforcement on doctors and pharmacies, threatening and prosecuting doctors for “over
prescribing” opioids to pain patients.
● CDC published the 2016 opioid death report which falsely claimed pain patients were addicted and dying in
massive numbers even though historically pain patients are rarely addicted or involved in opioid-related deaths.
● CDC contracted with members from the anti-drug lobbying group PROP to help draft CDC guidelines for opioid
prescriptions written by primary care physicians even though CDC and PROP knew that illicitly manufactured
fentanyl and heroin was the cause of the crisis. CDC Guidelines were implemented by the states as rule rather
than guidelines as originally intended, forcing pain patients off their medication or to a lower, non-therapeutic
dosage. This was done in spite of CDC having no prescription regulatory power and FDA already telling PROP
there is no scientific evidence to suggest these limitations are necessary or useful.
● Pharmacies and insurance companies began limiting opioid quantities and/or refusing to fill opioid prescriptions
based on perceived addiction bias against patients with pain from all causes due to media/government
misinformation, namely the original 2016 CDC opioid death report and guidelines.
● FDA cut production of opioids creating shortages and leaving many hospitals, cancer patients, and pain patients
without medication to treat pain.
● In 2018, CDC finally issued a correction for the 2016 opioid death report admitting that the majority of the deaths
were from illicit fentanyl and heroin, not legal prescription pain pills. CDC and National Institute on Drug Abuse
(NIDA) concede pain patients are almost never involved in opioid-related deaths. According to SAMHSA 2016
and similar studies the addiction rate for pain patients is .8%. That means 99.2% do not get addicted.
● Government/regulators ignore CDC and NIDA statements, continue threatening doctors. Many doctors stopped
treating pain patients and many closed their practice due to fear of losing their license or being prosecuted. Many
pain patients are left with no treatment for pain leaving them to suffer in agony with no support.
● NIH, FDA, DEA, CMS, Medical Boards, States abandon pain patients based on CDC’s initial report and guidelines
implemented as rule because of the false ideology CDC created. The majority of drug addicts continue to get
their drugs on the street and are still dying with no help. All pain patients, including cancer patients, blamed for
illicit fentanyl and heroin addiction/overdoses and continue to suffer needlessly. Production of opioids scheduled
to be cut again which will create even more shortages for the few patients still able to get meds and for hospitals.
CMS due to implement CDC guidelines as rule for Medicare and Medicaid patients in 2019.
● PROP stands to gain millions in federal money for addiction treatment that will likely never be fully utilized
because pain patients are the ones targeted yet most are not addicted. Most of the real addicts do not see
doctors unless they OD, thus little access to treatment.Pain patients and providers need your support! Please call your state and federal
legislators, the Medical Board of California, DEA, FDA, CMS, and media and tell them to
protect pain patients and their doctors from unfair discrimination. Tell the DEA to
leave our doctors alone! Tell them to remove the CDC guidelines and allow access to
opioid treatment as allowed by the manufacturer’s guidelines. Spread the word!
dontpunishpainrally.com
dontpunishpainrally.com/docs/
Resources
FDA Refuses PROP’s Request To Limit Opioid Dosage and Usage
http://paindr.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/FDA_CDER_Response_to_Physicians_for_Responsible_Opioid_Prescribin
g_Partial_Petition_Approval_and_Denial.pdf
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/marvin-ross/doctors-evidence-pain-patients_a_23371118/
PROP Involved in Drafting CDC Guidelines
https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2015/9/21/prop-helped-draft-cdc-opioid-guidelines
http://nationalpainreport.com/cdc-opioid-prescribing-guideline-unintentional-consequences-8836710.html
Illicit Fentanyl on the Rise
https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/images/pbss/CDC-Fentanyl-overdoses-rise.pdf
https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates
CDC Admits Death Data Inaccurate
https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304265
http://www.clinicalpainadvisor.com/opioid-addiction/the-issues-with-the-cdc-guidelines-on-opioids-for-chronic-pain/article/5
24976/
Pain Reliever Use Disorder – SAMHSA
https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-FFR1-2016/NSDUH-FFR1-2016.htm#opioid4
Cochran Report – Rate of Addiction Rare
https://www.cochrane.org/CD006605/SYMPT_opioids-long-term-treatment-noncancer-pain
Living with CDC Opioid Guidelines
https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/treatments/pharmacological/opioids/living-cdc-opioid-guidelines
https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/treatments/pharmacological/opioids/inhumane-dangerous-game-forced-opioid
-reduction
The Myth That Prescriptions Caused The Opioid Crisis
https://amp-newsobserver-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/amp.newsobserver.com/
Filed under: General Problems
To kids4ever,,,don’t forget the pre-exister conditions,,,,they want us dead too,,Most chronic pain patients’ are pre-existing,soo,,,yea agreed,,,,this is government torture/genocide,,,and all who work for the federal government for hhs,doj,fda,cdc,nih,dea,they should all be ashamed of the torture/genocide they have committed on the medically ill,,,if they had a conscious,,,,which they don’t.
Excellent article btw,jmo,,,Andrew Kolodny,,,if the media was ever allowed to publish the truth on him..I have repeatly stated some facts on this guy,,some disturbing facts of evidence of his delusional socio-psychopathic abuse of his power thru the delusional perception he believes his ,”rank,” give him,,Every single time,,it is deleted or someone gets a phone call to delete it,..This guy truly is a socio psychopath in a position of authority and power over us..He is just like the 10 other a shrinks in our country’s history whom have committed 10 of theee worse inhumane human atrocities in America.The very thought that anyone thinks they have the right to decide for all of mankind how much FORCED physical pain another human is to forcible endure is in itself psychopathic in origin!!!human,maryw
I began following the under prescribed agenda set by CDC, evidently pushed by PROP and unscrupulous people….not physicians, that pain management patients are the driving force behind drug and SUBSTANCE abuse Including distilled alcohol which Is “legal” to use in ANY quantity that the buyer can afford and almost ALWAYS present in the body at the time of overdose yet alcohol which is documented and present in almost 100 percent of overdose and in which opiate medication get the blame for overdose with ONLY a very small presence is detectable in overdose and not always even detectable i accidental overdose. Meth, heroin, cocaine, and other substances which are the leading cause of overdose do NOT get the blame of overdose ….only small amounts of opioids both prescription in a VERY, VERY small amount get the majority of blame for overdose when illicit fentanyl and heroin are the major contributors or overdose along with alcohol which intensifies the effects of opiates such as heroin and fentanyl being the MAJOR contributor of DEATH do not get the blame for overdose because it is MUCH easier to blame life saving opiates such as oxycodone, and other life saving, life enhancing medications in the pain management control of disease causing pain generation and injury that is NOT “curable” are unjustly blamed for overdose is blamed. PRP, Kolodny, Frieden, and other major players involved with CDC have sworn that their research has indicated that prescription medications which legitimate pain management patients have done very well with with responsible use and responsible prescribing documented by pin management doctors have caught ALL blame for death by prescription drugs VERY unjustly and these unscrupulous people who are NOT physicians have blamed and increase of overdose on have managed to convince atonal health agencies that they, prescription drugs are the SOLE agents in increased overdose when FACT indicates that illicit substances in use with alcohol is the real culprit in an increased number of death by overdose. The pain management patients in America now suffer from LIES being pushed by the likes of Kolodny and Frieden which continue to profit from taxpayer grants to open subutext and suboxene research which does NOTHING to manage lifetime, continuous, severe pain derived from disease and injury which the pain management patients has no control. WHEN….will truth prevail?……or does it really matter?????90,000 deaths per year from alcohol related death with about 55,000 deaths from overdose which is not separated from illicit or prescribed opiate medication.It is “OK” to use alcohol which has zero health benefits…only recreational use and alcohol is legal to use if of age to purchase but opiate medication used to manage torturous pain from disease and injury has come under fire from those that don; t really give a DAMN about real health concerns, just about hoe much the principals pushing the issue can benefit from monetarily????????I s THIS what healthcare has come to and those under intolerable pain generation which HAVE documentation from our doctors and pain management specialists that can PROVE opiate medication responsible prescribed and used by pain management patients by the preponderance of evidence PROVE that we the patients have a better, more active and less stressful, mentally life with the use of an effective dosage of opiate medication now under fire??????????? SCREW the “experts” that suffer o painful disease or lifetime, painful, severe consequences of a reduced opiate medication as the LAST medication that really is effective!!!!!!! The blatant “idea” that pain management patients should be “taxed” for unwanted pain by Kolodny absolutely states the derranged world that Kolodny lives in. Why is he and others like him not taxed for NOT living in unwanted pain? It makes as much sense as his thinking!!!!!!!!!
Why can’t this deceptive opioid BS be exposed and stopped? The Govt is trying to kill both chronic pain patients and addicts. Neither group are of any use to Trump. This is war crimes against humanity. https://www.cato.org/blog/war-opioids-has-become-war-patients
Gestapo=Nazi=USA=>GENOCIDE=>Constitutes war crimes against chronic pain patients!