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Advocates for Prescription Opioid Reform
prescriptionopioidreform.com
Families, Patients, and Doctors, Hoping for Change
WHO WE ARE
We are a group of citizens, who have, in one way or another, been affected by a major change in the medical practice of prescribing opioids (narcotics) for pain. We are made up of Family & Friends, who have suffered the effects of addiction and in many cases death from inappropriate applications of prescription opioids. We are made up of Doctors, who are concerned with establishing safe practices for prescribing opioids for patients. We are made up of Patients, who need a safe and responsible way to take their medications.
We are Citizen Advocates, who want a better way to deliver pain relief to those in pain without causing harm to the general public.
WHAT WE ARE ABOUT
We advocate for all changes that will bring an end to the current public health crisis created by a massive amount of prescription opioids in our cabinets and on our streets. We hope to communicate with the leaders of the organizations who can influence the prescribing practices of physicians. We hope to communicate with the legislative authorities who can implement the needed changes. We want to educate the public on the issues of this subject, so that they can use this information to protect their lives and the lives of their families.
WHAT ARE OUR GOALS
To end the epidemic of death and addiction caused by prescription narcotic drugs by ensuring that opioids are regulated, marketed, prescribed and used in an evidence-based manner.
PLEASE JOIN US!!
Below is our open letter to Congress. Please read it, and if you agree that the United States Congress should take action, please sign our petition. You can also help others, by leaving a comment.
AN OPEN LETTER & CALL TO ACTION
FOR
President Obama
&
MEMBERS OF U.S. CONGRESS
CALL TO ACTION:
Stop the Death and Addiction from Prescribed Painkillers
Advocates for Prescription Opioid Reform
prescriptionopioidreform.com
Families, Patients, and Doctors, Hoping for Change
Dear President Obama, and Members of U.S. Congress,
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a public health crisis exists in the United States and around the world. It involves massive amounts of prescription opioids (narcotics) being prescribed and used inappropriately within the medical community to treat pain. We need your help to stem the damage this is causing individuals and families. A conservative estimate claims over 27,000 people are dying each year from prescription drugs, in the U.S. alone, in large part due to prescription opioid narcotics, and countless others are becoming addicted.
In an effort to mitigate the effects of the inappropriate use of medical opioids, the Food and Drug Administration held a meeting in July of 2010, seeking advice from medical experts. The FDA's own expert panel listened to stakeholders, reviewed statistics, and ultimately made the following recommendation:
It is the clear sense of the committee that the problem of opiate abuse and misuse are pressing public health concerns. The REMS process as defined by FDAAA will have a limited effect as it fails to address many of the root causes of the problem. The FDA/REMS process lacks critical regulatory authority with regard to mandated training, enforcement, and coordination of data acquisition that are key components of any process that is likely to impact this most important public health issue.
The committee strongly recommends that legislation be developed that addresses current limitations in the law.
Click To see full transcripts
We strongly concur!
As of February 2011, we have seen no progress to get this recommendation in your hands, in order to put in place the legislation that is required to stem this public health crisis. Gil Kirlikowse, Director for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, has recently called "Prescription" drugs the number 1 drug problem in the country. He has also stated that "physicians need to be educated", and that they get "very little" information about addiction and pain management during their medical training.
This is an urgent matter that requires your immediate attention, and we petition you to take immediate action on this issue. We hope to see you engage the medical experts, who can help establish regulations and policies that will protect the public. We are very aware of how this epidemic has occurred; through misinformation and aggressive marketing of opioids for pain. We strongly recommend that NO pharmaceutical companies, or their representatives, be allowed to be part of the process of instituting the changes (physician training), needed to reduce the death and addiction caused by inappropriate prescriptions for opioids.
This crisis demands your immediate attention.
Sincerely,
Advocates for Reform of Prescription Opioids
Betts Tully,
Executive Director
Patient Advocate
NEWEST RESEARCH!!!!!
To the right is a brochure on responsible opioid prescribing, authored by a distinguished group of medical professionals in February 2011. It is a "must read" for all physicians who treat chronic non-cacer pain.
Below is a video on prescribing opioids, with interviews of highly respected physicians in this field.
We believe everyone should read and watch these two important medical tools for understanding the crisis we are facing with the overprescribing and inappropriate use of opioids for the management of chronic non-cancer pain.
Please share this information with everyone who you think will benefit from this important resource. Both the brochure and video were created by physicians and researchers in the field of pain management and addiction.
Click below for excerpt(s) from an important documentary produced by New York Academy of Medicine, about prescription opioids. Interviews conducted by Dr. Andrew Kolodny. Chapter I: Risk of Addiction:
Please share this information with everyone, who you think will benefit from it's content. Both the brocure and video were created by physicians and researchers in the field of pain management and addiction. Click each Link below to see all 3 Chapters.
Chapter II: High Dose Opioid Therapy:
Chapter III: Discontinuing Chronic Opioid Therapy
MYTHS AND FACTS BROCHURE
for
CAUTIOUS, EVIDENCE-BASED,
OPIOID PRESCRIBING
written by
PHYSICIANS FOR RESPONSIBLE OPIOID PRESCRIBING
(PROPS)
A MUST-READ FOR EVERY PHYSICIAN!!
