Pat Anson of the Pain News Network signs a light of hope on the state of Oklahoma.  On May 03, 2021, the governor "signed into law bipartisan legislation that amends a state law regulating opioids and other controlled substances to better protect pain patients.  One key amendment emphasizes that 'individualized treatment' be provided to patients without tapering or mandatory dose limits.  [The new law also] requires that patients be given access to their prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) records", reports Anson.

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Read more here

In an article posted Saturday, May 15, 2021, on Newsweek.com, it was announced that two Republican Representatives have proposed legalizing Marijuana on the federal level.

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Finally, Republicans in Congress are realizing two things:

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1. They can make big bucks, and

2. They can control more people if they allow them to stay high, and,

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Republicans must think most Americans are stupid, hoping ...

They (Republicans) might draw some of the 100 million or more Americans suffering chronic pain to their dark side if they dangle this medicinal carrot on a stick.  I believe medical cannabis should be a tool in our chronic pain toolbox but I also believe any Republican support of this is just an attempt to use those of us in chronic pain as tools to enrich their pockets. Just as we were unconsidered collateral damage on the war on opioids because they could not see a way to monetarize our suffering.

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Read the article, the Democrats already passed a more comprehensive bill in the house which was left to die by the Republicans back in December 2020 in the Senate.  This Republican proposal says nothing about expunging the records of hundreds of thousands of Black and Brown people arrested on Marijuana offenses. Nor does it say anything about opening up a path to ownership of legal Cannabis dispensaries to Black and Brown entrepreneurs. They should have been the first offered licenses for dispensaries since their communities were devasted by the war on drugs.

Once Cannabis is legalized on the Federal level, Black and Brown people should be granted SBA loans to open dispensaries.

On April 22, 2021, Pat Anson of the Pain News Network reported that:

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"Opioid prescriptions were declining before the CDC guideline was released and now stand at their lowest level in 20 years. But reduced prescribing has had a negligible impact on the overdose crisis – drug deaths are at record levels – and it’s come at a significant cost to patients. Over 92% say their pain levels and quality of life have grown significantly worse or somewhat worse in the last five years, and effective pain treatment is increasingly hard to find."

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Learn more here.

"The CDC is preparing an update and possible expansion of its 2016 opioid prescribing guideline. Here's your chance to tell the CDC what changes to make.

If you haven't already, please visit The Pain News Network at the link below and participate in their survey."

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Let your voice be heard by participating in the survey here

A New Organization, the National Pain Advocacy Center was established this Month (March 2021) to ensure that pain treatment is seen as a health equity and rights issue.  NPAC was founded by chronic pain advocate and former U.S. Justice Department Civil Rights Attorney Kate Nicholson, JD.

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Forbes reports "This new organization is one of the most promising responses to a neglected aspect of the “opioid crisis.” In the rush to correct past mishandling of opioid medications, and the understandable urgency to curb an alarming rise in opioid-related overdose and death, the legitimate uses of opioids have been forgotten, as have the people with chronic pain who still rely on them to maintain functional, livable lives." [1]

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Endnotes:

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2021/03/17/people-with-chronic-pain-are-claiming-a-voice-in-the-opioids-crisis/?sh=29bb06136c27