How the war on opioids and RESTRICTED access to cannabis is hurting chronic pain patients Around three years ago, I chartered a cannabis education non-profit organization. At the time, I had been using cannabis for seizure control for about a year. I was using CBD which was legal in my state. I had met aContinue reading Adding Reason to Rhetoric
Inconvenient Truths in America’s Opioid Crisis
What Is the Sound of One Hand Clapping?
What Was Said or Missed in the FDA Opioid Policy Steering Committee Hearings? by Richard A Lawhern, Ph.D., as published in National Pain Report. Many years ago, a stand-up comic named Shelly Berman helped to immortalize a riddle told by Zen masters. “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” can have many answers. OneContinue reading What Is the Sound of One Hand Clapping?
Opioids: Chasing the Wrong “Epidemic”
As published in The Crime Report Every first responder is familiar with the scenario. You are called to the scene of yet another drug overdose. Naloxone is administered. The comatose “victim” rouses and groggily stands up. Many refuse to be taken to hospitals and drift away. You are tempted to call out “see you againContinue reading Opioids: Chasing the Wrong “Epidemic”
Call To Action: Take This New York Times Survey!
If you read the news, you know that the presiding narrative on the opioid crisis is that it is being driven by prescriptions for opioid medication. While that premise would certainly make fighting the crisis a simple proposition, the only thing simple about it is that it is false. Sadly, it isn’t only the usualContinue reading Call To Action: Take This New York Times Survey!
A Message to Legislators: Stop Your Phony War On Pain Patients!
By Richard A. Lawhern, Ph.D. as published in iPain Living, the magazine of the International Pain Foundation. We hear and read the glaring headlines every morning and evening from National media: America is in an opioid overdose crisis and prescription drugs are the supposed cause. The same messages are being shouted in Canada with equally direContinue reading A Message to Legislators: Stop Your Phony War On Pain Patients!
An Open Letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee
By Richard A. Lawhern, Ph.D. as published in the National Pain Report. This is edited from a letter sent to 25 legislative assistants of sitting members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. As of one week later, not one of them had responded to it. Dear Senate Staffer: It is likely that the December 17th articleContinue reading An Open Letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee