There is presently a petition on the internet titled: Urge the FDA to Protect the Rights of People With Pain. This petition is the most blatant affront to those who are trying to stop the growing epidemic of addiction and death in our country. The mindless petition ends with: “Please join with the American Pain Foundation in sending an important message to the FDA. While abuse and misuse of opioid medicines are serious public safety concerns, the agency must protect the rights of the millions of people (no documentation) who rely upon prescription opioid medication in order to get up each morning and face their day with some semblance of worth and dignity. Curbing the abuse must be balanced with the need for legitimate access.”
On the surface the sentence looks sane and caring, however, there are no alternatives offered to stop the over distribution of the products. More importantly a closer look at many of the comments on the petition comes from the workers in the Hospice industry and terminally ill patients. How did Hospice workers get fooled into believing anyone wants to take away pain relievers from the terminally ill? How did terminally ill patients come to believe there is a necessity for a petition to protect their needs? How low did the American Pain Foundation have to go to convince and mislead people in serious need of help that there are people who want to see more suffering? The American Pain Foundation does not explain the distinct differences between Terminal Pain, Acute Pain and Chronic Pain.
New studies are being presented that indicate the majority of chronic pain patients are also depressed and/or suffer from anxiety. The American Pain Foundation offers no help to those individuals in chronic pain in this petition other than a life long struggle in trying to manage the opioids. I am curious how the pharmaceutical industry and American Pain Foundation are going to explain the death of Michael Jackson this week who was under the 24 hour care of a doctor. This week the drug mavens fooled Hospice workers and their patients. I again ask the question; how long is the American media going to remain boondoggled on what could be the biggest and growing epidemic in our country?