President Trump please Fire CDC AND DEA Directors

                Doctors For Equal Rights For Mental and Physical Pain

   President Trump please Fire CDC AND DEA Directors for lying to American people Alen J Salerian MD

 CDC’s   Scientific Misrepresentations  Wrongly Attribute

   An Epidemic of overdose Deaths To Prescription Pain Medications

·           CDC without any scientific evidence wrongly broadcasts an epidemic of steadily rising overdose deaths to prescription pain medications. This is an egregious  scientific misrepresentation. Association is not causation.

·           Both the number of prescription medication overdose deaths and prescription pain medication overdose deaths increased at the same rate. From 2011 to 2013 the percentage of prescription pain medication deaths versus overall overdose deaths decreased.

·           CDC wrongly and unscientifically attributed heroin addiction  to prescription pain medications based upon a flawed study of people with heroin addiction and their past exposure to pain medications. This is an egregious scientific misrepresentation.

·           According to the Institute Of Medicine Report that there are some 110 million Americans with chronic pain . This large number may reflect multiple social medical realities industrial and traffic accidents, wars and longer longevity with cancer and other disorders--‐and has greatly increased the number of people who may benefit from prescription pain medications .

·           Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published numerous warnings of a deadly epidemic of deaths from prescription painkiller overdoses. On November 4, 2015 DEA acting administrator Chuck Rosenberg warned the public and stated , “guns are safer than prescription drugs”. He declared that in 2013 more people died  from a drug overdose  then guns and more than half of those were prescription painkillers and heroin. These are grotesque misrepresentations by DEA. They’re as accurate as blaming crime on race or ethnic origin.

Attachments

      I.         CDC Data

     II.         References

   III.         Tables 1,2 and 3

   IV.         Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Advancing Pain Research, Care, and Education. 

CDC Data

1.CDC Vital signs (2011) Prescription Painkiller Overdoses in the US. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

2. Vital Signs Issue details: Demographic and Substance Use Trends Among Heroin Users — United States, 2002–2013, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)

3.Vital Signs – Today’s Heroin Epidemic [PODCAST - 1:15 minutes]

4.Vital Signs – Today’s Heroin Epidemic [PSA - 0:60 seconds]

5.Data Brief: Drug-poisoning Deaths Involving Heroin: United States, 2000–2013

References:

Apkarian AV, Sosa Y, Sonty S, Levy RM, Harden RN, et al. (2004) Chronic back pain is associated with decreased prefrontal and brain matter density. J Neurosci 24(46): 10410-10415.The National Academies Collection: Reports funded by National Institutes of Health (2011) Relieving pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education and Research.

Kakko J, Svanborg KD, Kreek MJ, Helig M (2003) 1-year retention and social function after buprenorphine assisted relapse prevention trial. Lancet 361(9358): 662-668.

Salerian AJ (2015) Case studies of 17 Patients. Journal of case reports and studies 3(2): 203.

Salerian AJ (2015) Discontinuation of Opiate Treatment: A Retrospective Review of 49 patients. Journal of Psychology And Clinical Psychiatry 2(4): 00083.

Salerian AJ (2015) Opiates: Benefits and Overuse Potential. Pharmacy and Pharmacology International Journal 2(3): 00022.

      Webster LR, Dasgupta N (2011) Obtaining adequate the to determine causes of opioid related overdose deaths. Pain Med 2: S86-S92.

Addendum:

Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and Research.

Editors

Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Advancing Pain Research, Care, and Education. 

Source

Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2011. 
The National Academies Collection: Reports funded by National Institutes of Health.

Excerpt

The Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, has requested that the IOM (Institute of Medicine) convene the ad hoc committee to address the current state of the science with respect to pain research, care, and education; and explore approaches to advance the field. Specifically, the committee will: Review and quantify the public health significance of pain, including the adequacy of assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and management of acute and chronic pain in the United States. This effort will take a comprehensive view of chronic pain as a biological, biobehavioral, and societal condition. Identify barriers to appropriate pain care and strategies to reduce such barriers, including exploring the importance of individualized approaches to diagnosis and treatment of pain. Identify demographic groups and special populations, including older adults, individuals with co-morbidities, and cognitive impairment, that may be disparately undertreated for pain, and discuss related research needs, barriers particularly associated with these demographic groups, and opportunities to reduce such barriers. Identify and discuss what scientific tools and technologies are available, what strategies can be employed to enhance training of pain researchers, and what interdisciplinary research approaches will be necessary in the short and long term to advance basic, translational, and clinical pain research and improve the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and management of pain. Discuss opportunities for public–private partnerships in the support and conduct of pain research, care, and education.

Copyright © 2011, National Academy of Sciences.