If you a CPP, briefly skimming over this report it’s likely to anger some, but a more thorough read of the content should in fact encourage most, assuming of course the data is used within the context of, treating chronic pain with opioids is not the same as opioid misuse. The data will in fact help uncover drug abuse by those who attempt to exploit our healthcare system as yet another drug source in their efforts to continue their drug abuse efforts.

By R Carter

Newton's third law of motion states that for every action (force) in nature, there's an equal and opposite reaction. In other words, if object A exerts a force on object B, then object B also exerts an equal but opposite force on object A, or Fa = -Fb. Notice that force is exerted on both objects and in both directions even if one is resting and not in motion. This force is often expressed as work, work is defined as the product of force, so regardless of whether we’re talking about objects moving through space or something more abstract like a healthcare system, the principle remains because the universe, at the level in which we operate, is based on cause and effect. And if we’ve modeled our system completely, the net effect for a force applied to another system is always zero, they cancel each other out.

Richard A Lawhern, Ph.D., Andrea Trescot, M.D., Stephen E Nadeau, M.D.

Point papers are a long-standing tradition in military and government policy making circles.  Unlike most medical journal papers, they are formatted with a minimum of verbiage to summarize an issue for decision making.   The authors write in that tradition, adding references for key points.  We speak on behalf of millions of people in pain and their healthcare providers, who have been predictably and unnecessarily harmed by the 2016 CDC Guidelines on prescription of opioids to adults with chronic non-cancer pain. 

Rhode Island pain patient legislation returns in 2020.

Follow WJAR News 10 Rhode Island's coverage of Bill 738 with Claudia Merandi on this link.