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Find out where your Candidates Stand on Pain Management
Find out where your Candidates Stand on Pain Management
Find out where your Candidates Stand on Pain Management
Do you know the candidates running for reelection in your State? Check them out to find out what they plan to do to protect Pain Patients rights!
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Contact the candidates in your state and ask where they stand on prescribing opioid pain medications for chronic intractable pain and see if they're willing to champion our cause.
Click on your state's link below:
For Presidential Election Race Information - CLICK HERE.
- Q & A: What is the difference between a primary, caucus and convention?
- Q & A: Can a Democrat / Republican primary losing candidate run as a third party candidate?
- Q & A: Is the electorate required to adhere to the popular vote?
- Q & A: Why are elections held on a Tuesday in November?
Questions for Candidates to post on social media & email:
Millions of chronically ill veterans & civilians have been suffering the consequences of the crackdown on opioid prescribing. We need immediate solutions that will protect legitimate patients and the doctors who treat us. Contrary to the public narrative, these patients have been on stable opiate pain medications for decades with NO issues and a minute risk of addiction, but are being forced to reduce or discontinue their meds nonetheless. The government's drastic restrictions have done NOTHING to reduce addiction or overdose deaths.
Study after study finds that the risk of addiction is 0.6%, yet the media has repeatedly omitted this information. The government has admitted that its own data and statistics originally reported by the CDC and other federal agencies was manipulated and highly inflated to advance the “anti opioid” agenda.
The media only highlights ONE side of this "crisis" when in actuality we are dealing with TWO separate crises:
#1 Illicit Street Drug Crisis: Causing addiction and thousands of overdose deaths primarily fueled by adulterated heroin, meth, cocaine, counterfeit pills, and illicitly manufactured black market fentanyl (IMF) & its analogs.
#2 Untreated/Undertreated pain crisis: Causing various complications, strokes, heart failure, suicide, and pushing some to seek relief from alcohol or the DEADLY illicit market out of sheer desperation.
We are SINGLE ISSUE VOTERS and have the numbers to SWAY the election to ensure VICTORY for whomever publicly acknowledges & commits to protect our rights.
What will you do to ensure that people with chronic, painful conditions will have access to the full range of pain management modalities, including opioid pain medications, when they are appropriate and necessary?
Pain patients deserve the SAME attention & fervor from our elected representatives.
PAIN EQUALITY NOW! #PainPatientsVote
In the coming months we will be featuring state & federal candidates from ALL states/parties who are willing to make our plight a TOP campaign issue & take our case to D.C. next year.
We can help the candidates who are sympathetic to our cause by amplifying their message and sharing relevant posts to get their names into the mainstream.
We're hopeful that our brothers & sisters in pain will put their personal politics aside and:
• LISTEN to each candidate's policy positions that address pain management, opioid prescribing, and government overreach;
• HEAR their ideas to protect the interests of doctors and patients;
• SUBMIT your questions or suggestions you would like lthe candidates to address.
• SHARE relevant posts from candidates that acknowledge our collective cause on your social media platforms.
Remember, party lines don't matter because pain is NOT partisan.
Note, you do NOT need to reside in the State or District the candidates are vying for to participate.
As always, please be respectful!
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Disclaimer: As advocates we must remain politically neutral. We are reaching out to candidates from ALL states & ALL political parties. However, we have NO CONTROL over who responds & accepts the invitation to join our fight & address our cause. We are in NO WAY favoring one party or candidate over another, and we ask that you treat the candidates with respect & civility, even if you disagree with their policy positions.
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Positions on Opioids, Addiction, Mental Health & Disability
Democrats have talked a lot about holding drug companies accountable for their role in fueling the opioid crisis and curtailing excessive prescriptions for opioid painkillers.
Former Vice President Joe Biden: Biden’s health care plan, which seeks to build on Obamacare with a public option for health insurance and better enforcement of coverage rules, would help boost access to drug addiction treatment, according to his campaign. His criminal justice plan would also boost spending on treatment. And it would use treatment over incarceration for people with drug problems, as well as offer treatment to people in jail or prison. On the campaign trail, Biden has spoken aboutpulling back opioid prescriptions and holding drug companies accountable for their role in fueling the opioid crisis.
Biden:
- “Today we are making an unprecedented commitment to combat the growing problem of prescription drug abuse,” said Vice President Biden. “The Government, as well as parents, patients, health care providers, and manufacturers all play a role in preventing abuse. This plan will save lives, and it will substantially lessen the burden this epidemic takes on our families, communities, and workforce.” -- April 19, 2011
What is your perspective on pain medications (especially opioids) for those with chronic pain and how does that fit into your health care plans?
Consistent access to quality, affordable health care is a right, not a privilege. This includes ensuring that Americans living with chronic pain have access to medications that help them manage their pain. I will invest in research that will focus on developing less addictive types of prescription drugs for pain. And, as I noted earlier, I’ll end pharmaceutical companies’ abuse of power and put a stop to runaway drug prices, including by limiting launch prices for any new, less addictive pain medications. In addition, I will give every American access to health care to address, as much as medically possible, the underlying causes of the chronic pain they are enduring.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard on Opioids: https://www.tulsigabbard.org/tulsi-gabbard-on-opioid-addiction
Gabbard has a LONG history AGAINST prescription opioids which is clear by reviewing her voting record and bills she's introduced, sponsored, and supported during her time in Congress.
“As we look at treatment options and support for those dealing with this addiction, it’s important that we actually focus on the root cause of the problem,” Gabbard said on the House floor in support of the legislation. “We have seen for decades how major pharmaceutical companies have misled the FDA, doctors, and patients about the safety and risks of opioid dependency on commonly prescribed prescription drugs in their efforts to sell more drugs.”
Gabbard introduced a bill to hold top company executives and drug manufacturers criminally liable for misleading opioid marketing. Her statements on the opioid crisis have typically focused on holding opioid companies accountable, with little attention to boosting drug addiction treatment or harm reduction services.
Sen. Bernie Sanders: Sanders cosponsored Warren’s bill to commit $100 billion over 10 years to drug addiction treatment and harm reduction programs. He has also argued that Medicare-for-all will guarantee access to addiction treatment. In his criminal justice plan, he backed supervised consumption sites and needle exchanges, and emphasized the need to move away from locking up people with drug addiction and instead giving them access to treatment. And he’s introduced legislation that would aimto “hold CEOs of drug companies criminally liable for illegal advertising, marketing, or distribution of opioids,” among other steps to reduce access to opioids.
Bernie Sanders: https://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-drug-policy/#addressing-the-heroin-epidemic
What is your perspective on pain medications (especially opioids) for those with chronic pain and how does that fit into your health care plans?
Roughly 50 million Americans struggle with chronic pain. Bernie will ensure they get the treatment they need by passing Medicare for All to guarantee health care as a human right. At the same time we address the addiction crisis in this country, we must cover the full range of pain management treatments including pain medications for people struggling with chronic pain and offer the option of evidence-based alternatives when appropriate. When Bernie is President, we will:
- Pass Medicare for All to provide pain management care and treatments to everyone with chronic pain issues. Under Medicare for All, we will stop the pharmaceutical industry from ripping off Americans by making sure that no one in America pays over $200 a year for the medicine they need by capping what Americans pay for prescription drugs. We will follow CDC guidance on pain management to ensure people with chronic pain receive the medication they need, and offer the option of evidence-based alternatives when appropriate. And we will educate providers on evidence-based best practice treatment options for chronic pain conditions.
- Make significant investments in funding for addiction treatment, recovery, prevention, and research. When we are in the White House, we will provide communities across the country struggling with the epidemic of addiction with the money and resources they need to address this issue while ensuring people receive the pain medication they need.
- And we need to remove the greed and profit motive from pharmaceutical companies, who willfully ignored the risks of misuse and hold those responsible accountable by passing the Opioid Crisis Accountability and Results Act.
- This bill will prevent illegal distribution of opioids and large unreasonable number of opioids from flooding rural communities and states, hold CEOs of drug companies criminally liable for illegal advertising, marketing, or distribution of opioids, penalize drug manufacturers who do not comply with the new regulations by eliminating patent exclusivity and require federal funds received by the company to be reimbursed to the government, and create and enforce fines on drug manufacturers who are found liable for worsening the opioid crisis.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Warren has introduced a bill that would commit $100 billion over 10 years to fight drug addiction — a huge investment in treatment and harm reduction programs, focused on evidence-based practices like opioid addiction medications and naloxone. She’s also acknowledged the role of health insurance, including Medicare-for-all, to help cover addiction treatment. In her criminal justice plan,
Warren called for diverting people with drug addictions from prison to treatment, and backed needle exchanges and supervised consumption sites. And she’s supported separate legislation that would impose criminal penalties on big company executives that “knowingly hurt people through criminal negligence — such as fueling the opioid crisis.”
Warren Says Pain Patients Shouldn't Lose Access to Prescription Opioids in Virtual Town Hall for Folks with Disabilities
What is your perspective on pain medications (especially opioids) for those with chronic pain and how does that fit into your health care plans?
It is essential that programs and policies meant to deter opioid abuse do not force millions of Americans to lose access to critical medicine and live in pain. My administration will take care to balance both priorities. We will also work to increase access to alternative pain management treatments by legalizing marijuana and ensuring other substances are appropriately scheduled by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar: Klobuchar’s campaign put out a $100 billion plan to address mental health issues and drug addiction. The proposal would promote early interventions for drug use, including at schools, as well as boost addiction treatment, including medications for opioid addiction. It would enforce laws requiring insurers to cover addiction treatment. It would also support research for more addiction treatments and non-opioid pain treatments. And it would discourage the use of jail or prison over treatment for people who use drugs, as well as encourage first responders to carry naloxone. It would impose a 2-cent fee on each milligram of an active opioid ingredient in painkillers to help pay for the plan and try to hold drug companies accountable for their involvement in the current overdose crisis.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar became the latest Democratic presidential candidate to release a detailed disability policy plan last week. Unlike other candidates, the senator also held a live event where she detailed her plan and held a panel discussion with three local disability experts, delving deeper into specific aspects of her plan. In a press statement released prior to the disability-focused event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Klobuchar cited her “a strong track record of standing up for people with disabilities.” Key highlights of the plan include commitments around long-term care, expanding healthcare access, and advancing economic opportunities as well as promoting disability rights at home and abroad
"There's going to be a major settlement coming through, a federal settlement against all these opioid manufacturers," Klobuchar said. "We will get -- a conservative estimate -- $40 billion in from that settlement, and we can put a 2 cents-per-mg tax on opioids that brings in another $40 billion. Then you can close a hedge fund loophole that brings in $18 billion."
》Pete Buttigieg on Chronic Pain HERE (Skip to Page #8)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg: Buttigieg released a comprehensive plan to tackle drug addiction and mental health issues in the US. The proposal would aim to scale up addiction treatment across the country, including through a 10-year, $100 billion grant program to encourage innovation at the community level, with an emphasis on boosting access to opioid addiction medications. It would also push insurance companies to cover addiction treatment and undertake broader efforts to ensure treatment is integrated into the health care system. It would decriminalize all drug possession at the federal level and push treatment over jail or prison for people with addictions. And it would expand naloxone and needle exchange programs
Buttigieg Pledges To Decriminalize Possession Of All Drugs In First Term As President
Marijuana Moment | August 23, 2019 | Kyle Jaeger
HEALING AND BELONGING IN AMERICA: A Plan to Improve Mental Health Care and Combat Addiction
Buttigieg campaign website, 2019
Excerpt ffrom February 9th Democratic debate:
The opioid problem is also exacerbated by "companies acting irresponsibly with substances that are lawful," Buttigieg said "We've got to make sure that there is accountability for those who suppressed evidence about the addictiveness of those substances -- even while we're also coming to recognize that these kinds of addictions are a medical issue, not a moral failure on the part of somebody battling that addiction."
Source:
https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/healthpolicy/84786
Tom Steyer: Steyer’s campaign said he will focus on incarcerating people from “drug companies
Michael Bloomberg
Mayor Bloomberg vs. painkillers
“So we now have a politician directly dictating medical policy to doctors at city hospitals.” [Radley Balko]
P.S. In the mayor’s view, just as you can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs, so you can’t fight painkiller abuse without overriding doctors’ judgment: “so you didn’t get enough painkillers and you did have to suffer a little bit…. there’s nothing perfect.” [Colin Campbell, Politicker]
Positions on Mental Health and Addiction:
https://www.mentalhealthforus.net/voters/candidate-positions/
MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D-SOUTH BEND, IN)
REPRESENTATIVE TULSI GABBARD (D-HI)
SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA)
2020 Presidential Questionnaire on Disability Policies
The 2020 Presidential elections will have significant implications for 20 percent of the US population- people with disabilities.
As we move towards election day, the American Association of People with Disabilities’ (AAPD) REV UP Campaign and the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) have developed a Presidential Questionnaire on Disability Policies. Through their responses to this questionnaire candidates will share their views and positions on key disability policy priorities.
“There will be over 35 million eligible voters with disabilities in 2020. We encourage all the Presidential candidates to engage the Disability vote,” said Maria Town, President & CEO of AAPD. “Our organizations are committed to empowering our community and speaking out about critical issues with the candidates.”
You can find a copy of the Presidential Questionnaire on Disability Policies through this link: https://www.aapd.com/2020-presidential-candidate-questionnaire-on-disability-policies/
Candidates views about DISABILITY, inclusion, and accessibility.
- Joe Biden – Video
- Pete Buttigieg – Video & survey
- Tulsi Gabbard – Video & survey
- Amy Klobuchar – Video & survey
- Bernie Sanders – Video & survey
- Tom Steyer -No response
- Elizabeth Warren – Video & survey
