FRANKFORT, Ky. — A state appeals court Monday heard arguments over whether secret records regarding the marketing of the powerful prescription opioid OxyContin should be released to the public.
A three-judge panel of the Kentucky Court of Appeals is considering a request from OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to overturn a lower court ruling ordering the release of the documents — the result of a motion filed by STAT. The records include a deposition of Dr. Richard Sackler, a former president of Purdue and a member of the family that owns the privately held Connecticut company.
100 million Americans have one or more chronic incurable pain Disease. As the CDC, DEA, FDA, Medicaid and Medicare, and numerous other government agencies, are blaming Doctors for the over prescribing of opioid medication. NOBODY, is looking at or reading the statistics from chronic pain disease patients. How about NOT addressing these drugs as dangerous and addictive. When all else fails: physical therapy, excersize, over the counter medications and numerous injections etc, we chronic pain disease patients, are left with one option to help us cope, opioid pain medication. Lets address this medication as lifesaving and medically necessary for the million of Americans with chronic diseases. Chronic pain is a disease. Chronic pain disease patients are now the epidemic. The addiction rate of chronic pain disease patients is .02-.6 %. We do not misuse or abuse our medications.
No other disease medication is scrutinized. We, as patients, are being denied, dismissed, overlooked and discriminated against, by our physicians, due to all the scrutiny associated with treating chronic pain disease with opioid medications. Our Dr’s are afraid to treat us humanely and adequately. We have a disease that medication is readily accessible to us and we are being denied. We, pain patients, are being discriminated against, due to people who abuse illegal heroin, illegal fentanyl and/or misuse opioid medication and place the blame on everyone but themselves. This is a direct hunt for Doctors who prescribe life saving medication, for pain disease patients, that benefit from them.
We have a chronic disease. We want to be able to take care of our homes, our children, our selves, as much as possible, but without access to these life saving medications, we are unable to do so. We want to live, not just exist in pain 24/7.
We need the government agencies to look at the real statistics, not the hand picked. These agencies are not physicians. They are trying to doctor us, patients, without a medical license. They are also trying to police our physicians. This is a war on a disease, medications, physicians and patients.
We need help. All the headlines, topics and stories on how opioids are bad and how people are abusing, misusing, overdosing, becoming addicted or dying from them. We need to look at the good they do and how they help our disease of chronic pain and the million of Americans who use them for some relief.
The government needs to put the focus on illegal drugs coming into, being manufactured and distributed in this country, illegal fentanyl, illegal heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and all other ILLEGAL DRUGS. People who abuse and misuse medication or illegal drugs will always find a way to get them illegally. Put the focus on that. Not the legally and medically necessary medications we patients need.
Dear Sir- As a Registered Pharmacist and Attorney I agree they are public records and are therefore designed to be seen by any and all. The fact that Perdue agreed to a settlement suggests that these docs had some serious gravitas- and if you settle for $24 Million, it was worth a quarter Billion to Perdue. They lied about this drugs addiction potential, that it was a twice daily dosage, instead of 3 times daily, folks on the med went through withdrawal- non-medical salespeople told doctors to increase the twice daily dose- but don’t give it 3 times daily- causing even more addiction.. these SOBS should be hung.. they have caused more death and destruction.. and if I told you how they marketed and attempted to market this product in Massachusetts.. it would burn off both of your ears.. Disgusted and Not Amused, Oh how I hate Big Pharma
Don’t know about “unregulation”, but having severe degenerative pain most of my life, it took 20 years of alternate treatments that did not work before any doctor prescribed pain meds. I kept them under lock and key, no one ever stole, I didn’t lose or divert, and they helped me work and take care of my family. Not all pain meds are bad, they are very helpful to a great many people. I feel sorry for those that have lost loved ones but the way it is now, folks are losing loved ones due to suicide from extreme pain because doctors are afraid to treat their patients as they have for years. You rarely hear about the families that are currently losing loved ones due to the fact they cannot take severe pain, have no quality of life and doctors throwing them to the curb. We seem to be invisible. No one wants to live in pain. Either folks were born with problems, or accidents caused issues or even Veterans come home with severe injuries. We deserve to be treated by doctors just as if we had heart conditions and needed treatment. Most of us have had years and years of all kinds of hocus pocus before resorting to opioids. Walk a mile in our shoes (or our families that take care of us).
How many kids have died from this highly unregulated curse of a drug on humankind!!!
Bob- in very few words you’ve told us an awful lot about you. 1) you’ve never been in severe pain and required long term treatment with opioids. Good for you. I hope your health and let’s face it, your luck continues. 2) you’re unaware of the existing regulations around this and other opioids, and 3) you are an abuser……………….exclamation points.