By Michael Emelio, Guest Columnist

Initially I was going to write an article about why we desperately need our doctors to fight for us. How they may be the only ones who will be able to convince the powers-that-be to stop punishing legitimate pain patients and open their eyes to the real consequences of reducing our access to pain medication.

While I believe doctors speaking out would help immensely, I fear that few will step up and make a difference. After talking to half a dozen pain management doctors this year, I believe that they have been so programmed by the anti-opioid propaganda that many believe they're doing the right thing and fail to realize the true extent of the suffering they have caused.

Tragically, it may only be when they've lost enough patients to street drugs or suicide that they’ll wake up.

We obviously don't have enough doctors fighting for us. Writing our congressmen and senators hasn't helped either. To make matters even worse, the mainstream media have failed miserably to report our side of the war on opioids. Most of the time they bombard the public with propaganda from the CDC and DEA.