Thanks for making this known re: real chronic pain patients are the one’s who have been left to suffer needlessly by the opioid drug crisis. Opioids have been on the market for decades and have worked very well to control pain for those who do not have an addictive personality. The “crisis” arose when many of the MD’s themselves started popping an opioid so they could still stand at an operating table to crank patients “needing” bank surgeries, shoulder pain, knee and hip replacements and even dentists were rx’ing it for simple extraction procedures and giving pts scripts for 50 or 100 tabs! Mom left hers in the medicine cabinet and kids began taking them like candy because their friends told them they’d get a nice high. If you don’t have 7 plus scale pain or you have an addictive personality, you will get high....no REAL PAIN.....no opioids. The phara companies lied to their reps who lied to their physicians so they would Rx it in greater quantities and at the end of the day, big pharma made billions of dollars, doc’s were told the drugs were safe and could easily be titrated up to keep their patients pain free and patients could go about their lives, working, playing sports, working out, doing carpentry, waxing the hardwood floors, biking with the grandchildren and living a fairly normal life despite chronic painful surgeries, accidents that would have made them disabled otherwise. Once the pharma folks began reining money out of their ears and their stock prices went thru the roof, not only did the cartels begin illegally selling, but unscrupulous doc’s set up pain “shops” all over the country and the “customer” would go down to the famous drug docs and pay big time cash to them for scripts under the table and unscrupulous pharmacists, with stores next to the drug doctors place set up shop next door. No one seemed to care much about “the druggies” that we’re the result of this $$$$ crime UNTIL the affluent realized their kids had become addicts and started stealing from the folks to get their fix and parents started screaming at their Congressional leaders to “do something to save our kids, cash donations poured into their representatives campaign accounts......well you know how it all went down the tubes for people who were suffering with ligit pain that no more surgery could fix. Yes, even hospitals and surgeons are afraid of giving a monthly script for their
Chronic pain suffering patients. The docs who know and regularly follow these patients have come up with a good idea to continue their patient’s prescriptions and allow honest patients to live a Fairly normal life despite their pain. The patient, hospital, pharmacists and honest pain mgmt doc,s have a legally binding agreement that is signed by all every three months to take only as prescribed and keep their quarterly doctors appointments to continue treatment. Most pain management physicians even run unannounced drug screening tests on their patients which protects both parties. But it is abhorrent that the corporations, physicians, parents, schools, etc did not stop this behavior from the beginning. The old saying “where are your kids and what are they doing tonight?” Ad campaigns of the 60’s and 70’s needs revitalization!