I just read an interesting article on RecoveryView.com by Andrew Kessler titled “Prescription Drug Policy in America” that I was impressed by. If you want to read this article please Click Here.

This article got me to thinking of how when the legislature enters into the prescription drug trap issue they can both help and harm some people who need to be taking appropriate prescription chronic pain management medication.  I know there is a serious problem and want to highlight four areas covered in a research report published in 2006 by Pain Physician Journal, (Volume 9: pp 215-226).

1.  In 2004, 11 million used opiates non-medically

2.  Pain management patients with opiate abuse
— 9 percent in this study to 41percent in other research

3.  Pain management patients’ with illicit drug use
— 16 percent in this study to 34 percent in other research

4.  90 percent of pain management patients use opiates in the United States

On the other hand I have seen chronic pain management patients who were unable to get the pain medication they needed because either prescribers or health insurance adjusters thought they were on too much medication.  While in some cases that is definitely true in others the patient really needs that level of pain relief for a better quality of life.

To better understand my take on both sides of this problem please check out two of my articles: War on Drugs — War on Pain Management and Avoiding the Prescription Drug Trap that you can download for free on our Ariticles page.

You can learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System at our website www.addiction-free.com. If you or a loved one is undergoing chronic pain management, especially if you’re in recovery or believe you may have a medication or other mental health problem and you want to learn more effective chronic pain management tools, please go to our Publications page and check out my book the Addiction-Free Pain Management® Recovery Guide: Managing Pain and Medication in Recovery. To purchase this book please Click Here.

To read the latest issue of Chronic Pain Solutions Newsletter please Click here. If you want to sign up for the newsletter, please Click here and input your name and email address. You will then recieve an autoresponse email that you need to reply to in order to finalize enrollment.

To listen to a radio interview I did conducted by Mary Woods for her program One Hour at a Time please Click Here to go to this interview.