You Can Help Stop the Reduction of Opiates in 2017

In case you haven’t heard, the latest tactic to fight the opioid overdose epidemic – and, concurrently, screw us chronic pain patients over – is here! For next year, 2017, the DEA is going to reduce the supply of Schedule II drugs.
Way to go, buttheads.
Chronic pain patients aren’t taking this sitting down, though.
My pal Anita is a badass. Clearly, she and I are trouble together.
Because of her chronic pain illnesses, she has started a petition on Change.org to ask the DEA to reconsider the reduction of the opioid supply. She’s been through a lot but asks that I not necessarily go into details about her life because “I want this to be ours all of ours.”
She goes on to say:

I have been a little aware of this restriction of Opioids for some time. I was sorta scared but also ignored it as I am in the process of applying for disability and that is stressful in itself. It wasn’t until my pain doctor, who I thought I had a great rapport with, said some ableist things and tried to stop my opioid meds all together… As upset as I was, it sorta woke me back up that relying on the system without keeping it in check, the system will always choose their own best interest. Though it was reading the article in the petition [and linked above here] that really just fired me so up that I had to do something. Being that I was an activist by way of physical protest and was used to doing things my body can no longer do, this was the only thing I could think of to do. I hope to at least create some awareness on the issue, get some people fired up and hopefully help people understand we aren’t addicts we just want to be able to live.

So, what can you do?
Sign Anita’s petition. Share it. Put it on Facebook and Twitter and Tumblr and other social media. Email it to your friends and family members.
Help us stop the ridiculous treatment of chronic pain patients here in America.

 

2 thoughts on “You Can Help Stop the Reduction of Opiates in 2017

  1. Thanks for this! My comment on the petition was "I am a chronic pain patient, not an addict. Pain patients are very supportive of getting addicts off of prescription opioids, BUT what we won't stand for is the attempts to throw legitimate patients out with the bath water. Opioids are serious medicine – they've been around for a long time. We have worked closely with our doctors to come to the decision to take opioids. We do not take it lightly, and we look forward to the day when new pain treatments will make opioids obsolete. In fact I go to DC annually (on my own dime) to lobby for increases in funding to the NIH for migraine/headache research. For now, without other options, many of us simply function better with opioids. It's un-American to let pain patients suffer while spending millions and millions of dollars helping recreational addicts. Where's the compassion for us? Where's the government spending to help pain patients? The very least the government can do is NOT take away our medicine!"

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