In the wake of what it labeled an epidemic of opioid overdose deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2014 and again in 2016 released guidelines for prescribing opioids for chronic pain. The recommendations included limiting the dosage of opioids and questioned the efficacy of even using opioid therapy for long-term chronic use.

"We are asking to CDC to remove the guidelines themselves or we can ask the politicians to do it by law," Anderson said, asserting that some people have killed themselves after their painkiller dosages were lowered. "How many more chronic pain patients and veterans do we have to lose before we remove these CDC guidelines?"

Lynda Rollins, 57, of Valparaiso, said she now needs medication because of failed attempts by doctors to relieve her pain in the past, by putting in devices that didn't work.

"People that have chronic pain weren't asking for medications in the beginning. They were asking to fix it," she said.