PETITION
Advocates for Prescription Opioid Reform
prescriptionopioidreform.com
Families, Patients, and Doctors, Hoping for Change
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.
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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
