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National Pain Awareness Campaign
June 5, 2008
The NFTP now has over 4,000 members, from every
state of the Union and 19 foreign nations and
principalities. The membership campaign, which began
in 2003, has brought in several thousand new
members, all of whom personally understand the
crisis of securing legitimate, effective medical
management of pain.
The fight is far from over to accomplish this. In
fact, most experts in the field of pain management
believe that the situation has gotten worse, not
better. Patients, with the exception of just a few
states, find it harder than ever to find a competent
and courageous doctor to treat them. Doctors have
been completely intimidated by State Medial Boards
and the DEA. Some doctors now believe that no matter
what they do, how carefully they practice or how
closely they adhere to the Standard of Care, there
is now no protection against having one's career
destroyed by the "War on Doctors". The presence of a
single "bad apple" in their practice can lead to
prosecution and the end of their medical career.
This makes the need for a large, united and vocal
membership for NFTP all the more critical. We ask
that every member speak up to their legislative
representatives and vigorously recruit more members.
The larger our membership, the louder and more
influential our voice!
April 13, 2003
To the Members of NFTP,
all Pain Patients, their families, friends,
physicians and fellow citizens.
It is a
critical time for pain treatment in the United
States. The DEA has reported that in 2002 it
investigated 620 cases and prosecuted 597. In
numerous instances DEA agents have invaded
physicians' offices with SWAT teams, holding
everyone there at gunpoint as they emptied out all
patient records, in searches for "diversion",
"criminal activity", "racketeering", "criminal
conspiracy" and a dozen more half-cocked theories of
illegal activity. Physicians are increasingly
fearful of prescribing to ANY pain patient, because
of the increasingly mindless prosecution they now
risk.
The National Foundation for the
Treatment of Pain has decided to do something about
it. With this letter we have started a NATIONAL
CAMPAIGN OF PAIN AWARENESS. The NFTP logo, which
is 3/4" square, is the symbol of that campaign. You
can order this pin by signing up as a
New or Renewing Member with a minimum donation
of $25 per pin.
We are seeking to put
1,000,000 of these pins on the lapels and blouses of
everyone in the United States who understands the
importance of legitimate and effective pain control.
When our goal has been reached, public policy toward
pain, pain patients, and the doctors who treat them,
will radically change.
When asked what the
pin is, we ask everyone who is wearing one to
provide the following information:
-
As many as 50,000,000 Americans suffer pain.
- Almost 15,000,000 suffer chronic and
intractable pain that is severe enough to be
disabling.
- As many as 75% of even cancer pain patients
receive grossly inadequate pain relief.
- Because of this, the suicide rate among pain
patients is almost 20 times that of all other
patients.
- The main causes of inadequate pain care in
the United States are "opiophobia" and Physician
fear of prosecution.
- Opiophobia is a state of gross ignorance
about pain medications. It is fear of addiction,
tolerance, organ damage, in patients using
opioids to control pain. The fact is that NONE
of these things happen to pain patients.
Virtually none of them become addicted (although
most become physically dependent upon their
medicine to give them a life worth living - like
diabetics become dependent upon Insulin). NONE
suffer organ damage, ALL find a dose level and
schedule that works and stay on them for years.
Few suffer any form of withdrawal. Virtually no
pain patient wants to take medications and their
life improves dramatically when they do.
Addicts, on the other hand, love medication and
their life falls to pieces as they take more of
it.
- 1 out of every 1400 doctors in the United
States gets prosecuted for prescribing pain
medication.
- The War on Drugs has become a War on
Doctors. Swat teams now break into doctors
offices at gunpoint, and seize everything in a
search for wrong-doing. So far this behavior has
been immune to any official restraint.
- Daily, fewer doctors are willing to treat
pain, for fear of official prosecution.
- The treatment of pain in America is on a
downward spiral.
The National Foundation for the Treatment of Pain
is a non-profit organization dedicated to
guaranteeing that no legitimate pain patient is
denied adequate care, and that no legitimate
treating doctor will face prosecution alone. The
NFTP has begun this National Campaign of Awareness
to make everyone in the United States aware of
issues about Chronic Pain, and to recruit 1,000,000
workers on behalf of effective, universally
available, pain treatment.
Wear your pin
with pride, and educate the world about untreated
suffering and misguided persecution. We are changing
the way Pain is perceived in America, and the way
physicians who care for intractable pain patients
are treated.
Sign up on the NFTP web site
today as a
New or Renewing Member. With a minimum donation
of $25 you will get a lapel pin and your membership
in the Foundation.
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 12.16.2009
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