Kathy Kempken

Special to The Desert Sun

The opioid crisis has been a growing problem for a long time and all over the country people who take prescribed opioid pain medication are being unfairly targeted by our government. There are two sides to the opioid crisis: heroin and illicit fentanyl and legally prescribed opioid pain medication. The "opioid crisis" is really about people who are dying from heroin and illicit fentanyl. The people who require legally prescribed opioid pain medication have nothing to do with it, but they are the ones being unfairly targeted and suffering.

To combat the opioid crisis the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain, 2016. The 2016 CDC guidelines directed doctors how to prescribe opioid pain medication to those that suffer from the most excruciating and severe chronic, intractable pain, some who’ve been prescribed much needed legal opioid pain medication for 15-20 years.

Advocates say the 2016 CDC guidelines have resulted in tens of thousands of people to be completely cutoff from access to legally prescribed opioid pain medication. In many parts of the country chronic pain patients and advocates say the escalating government response to the opioid crisis is invading the doctor-patient relationship and that the government is now deciding if and when doctors should prescribe opioid pain medication.

Advocates say this injustice is leaving tens of thousands of people who require prescription pain medication without needed relief. They are suddenly being denied, cut off or forcibly tapered from prescription pain medication leaving many out of work, bedridden and even suicidal.

Sadly, it’s not just our government, CDC and FDA choosing to target the chronic pain community, sick and disabled. Some of our state elected leaders in cities such as New York, San Francisco and Philadelphia are considering setting up safe injection sites. These safe sites, known as “supervised injection sites” will provide a safe and clean place for illegal drug users to use heroin and illicit fentanyl, with no questions asked! The supervised injection sites will be staffed with trained medical personnel in case something goes wrong and they will be available to revive the illegal drug user. And yet, the chronic pain community is being denied legally prescribed pain medication.

In April 2018, a group called Don’t Punish Pain held rallies around the United States to bring attention to this excessive government overreach and to have our voices heard. We're fighting back for quality of life, for relief to restore prescribed opioid pain medication access to the chronic pain community’s, for the government to stop intervening with our doctor-patient relationship. We're fighting for our rights, your rights and the rights of our future.

On Sept. 18, the 2nd Nationwide Don't Punish Pain rally will be held at every state capital and other cities throughout each state. Rallies may also be held at hospitals, pharmacies, doctor’s offices, parks, etc. The movement is gaining attention and if you'd like to come out and support a Don't Punish Pain rally, visit www.DontPunishPainRally.com or search Facebook "Don't Punish Pain Rally Natl" to find signs, flyers and rally locations near you.

With the government's continued focus on opioid prescription pain medications, it will only distract from what is really killing our sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers and loved ones — heroin and illicit fentanyl.

Email Kathy Kempken of Palm Desert at Kkempken@me.com.