Andrew Kolodny says chronic pain patients are public relations pawns for major pharmaceutical companies

Chronic pain affects millions of Americans. Maybe someone you know.

In September 2018, we reported CDC data on the prevalence of chronic pain. The numbers are staggering. About 20 million people suffer from high-impact chronic pain, defined as "a limitation of life or work activities most days or every day in the last six months".

For many patients with chronic pain, opioids are the only drugs that are powerful enough to provide relief. Given the current opioid crisis, it is laudable that doctors and public health officials worry about whether we prescribe too much of these potent drugs or whether there is a better, less risky way , to treat patients with chronic pain. It's a conversation that is worth having.

A conversation that is not worthwhile is one in which the facts are replaced by destructive myths, such as the mistaken belief that the opioid crisis is the fault of irresponsible doctors, greedy pharmaceutical companies or patients addicts suffering from pain. Yet "lawyers" like Andrew Kolodny are doing just that, and are getting richer and richer.

Andrew Kolodny says chronic pain patients are public relations pawns for major pharmaceutical companies

For the uninitiated, Andrew Kolodny is a self-appointed opioid regulator. His organization, Doctors for a Responsible Opioid Prescription (PROP), was largely responsible for a disastrous policy implemented by the CDC, which ultimately scared doctors to prescribe opioids to patients with chronic pain. who needed it.

Worst, despite the restriction imposed on opioid prescriptions, the number of opioid overdose deaths continued to increase. Why? Because the opioid crisis is not due to chronic pain, patients become addicted to prescription medications. The current problem, the history of which we have detailed, concerns drug users for recreational purposes. It is true that too many prescription opioids have already flooded the market. But they have fallen into the wrong hands – namely recreational drug users – who have now switched to heroin (often fentanyl). That's the problem, and the data prove it unambiguously.

We are not the only organization to say that. In 2016, American scientist wrote:

"According to the National Survey on Substance Use and Health, which is extensive and repeated every year, 75% of opioid-related abuse begins with the use of non-prescription drugs obtained from a friend, family member or seller. "

So, the case is closed, right? Not if you are Andrew Kolodny, who continues to push inefficient and, frankly, cruel policies that end up preventing chronic pain patients from getting the drugs they need. And for good measure, he thinks that patients with chronic pain are public relations pieces for Big Pharma:

Dr. Kolodny can call us as he wants. But it is quite insensitive for him to characterize patients with chronic pain as a group of senseless addicts who have been duped by Big Pharma. In fact, it's downright insulting. But he has more to say. If you do not agree with its erroneous policies, it's only because you're a paid shill for opioid manufacturers.

Oh, he wants to talk about money? Let's talk about money. In 2016, while working for Phoenix House, Kolodny earned $ 463,000 to turn opioids on to patients with chronic pain. (This does not include his salary at Brandeis University.) It can be said without fear that he earns more than half a million dollars a year, which is more than half a million dollars a year. half of the total budget of ACSH.

So, let's go over. Andrew Kolodny (1) has a long history of misinformation about the opioid crisis; (2) insults patients with chronic pain; (3) benefits greatly from it; and (4) calls all who disagree with him an industry. The compbadionate version of Dr. Kolodny comes with a bad attitude at the bedside and an exorbitant price.