The CDC attempted to address the opioid problem in the US five years ago by curtailing the prescription of opioids. The result was that deaths are as high as ever and people with chronic pain are suffering.
Many people have had severe pain or know someone who does. Back pain is something that can spring up at almost anytime for some people and when it does, it can be debilitating. Some people cannot move or get out of bed when the pain strikes.
Others, like veterans, suffer every day. They know pain and feel it as a result of severe injuries earlier in their lives. However, these people have been suffering severely for the past few years.
The CDC’s attempt to address the opioid crisis is a total failure.
Five years after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiated a crackdown on opioid pain medications, experts have concluded the policy has been a miserable failure. Overdose deaths have gone up, not down, and now, courts are starting to recognize the arguments used to justify the crackdown are largely bogus.
“So these numbers, they just push these false numbers and now you have courts of law calling them out,” said Dr. Dan Laird.
As a Las Vegas physician, Laird has a unique vantage point from which to evaluate the great opioid crackdown. Laird is a pain management doctor and an attorney who represented patients who suffered pain after being denied legal medications.
Of the 50 million Americans plagued by chronic pain, about 20 million depend on prescription opioids to try and lead somewhat normal lives. Since 2016, those millions have suffered immensely because of a war on legal pain meds.
“Chronic pain patients are basically in a fight for their lives,” Laird said. “They’ve been under attack for several years now with this. Anti-opioid sentiment and sort of the over-reaction to the opioid crisis.”
Here is an interview with attorney and pain management doctor Laird: