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Claudia A. Merandi, 52, is the founder of the national "Don't Punish Pain Rally Organization." Claudia, mom to both Francesca and Ava, is the former owner of Merandi Court Reporting. She's a retired court reporter and self-published author, from East Providence, Rhode Island. 

As a person living with severe Crohn's Disease since a child, she witnessed first-hand the challenges a person with pain encounters when trying to obtain adequate pain management.

Claudia, in 2017, created the Don't Punish Pain Rally Organization focusing on organizing protests/rallies throughout the country for people with pain who could no longer access pain management due to the horrific 2016 CDC opioid prescribing guidelines. She started with five members. Today, there's over 20,000 members across the country. There's chapters in Canada, Australia, and the UK.

Claudia remains vigilant in bringing awareness to the anti-opioid crusaders who are profiting off the overdosing epidemic.  These anti-opioid crusaders have fueled the illicit fentanyl/Heroin overdosing epidemic by misleading governmental officials with false data/opinions, while making millions off the backs of both the addictions and the pain community.  

Today, Claudia works with pain patients, as well as their providers, who have been targeted unfairly by governmental agencies and medical boards. "When taken as prescribed and stored correctly, opioids remain to be safe and effective to treat both chronic and acute pain. You don't become addicted, purely, because you're exposed to a molecule. We must stop this false narrative pushed by media." 

Claudia has a weekly podcast with the United Patients Group.

She can be reached at .

Books published by Claudia Merandi

Dotty on the Potty by Claudia Merandi

Crohn's: The Other 'C' Word: Crohn's Disease, Court Reporting, and Custody Battles (E-Book)

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Bev Schechtman, 46, is one of the founding members of Don’t Punish Pain Rally. She grew up in northern New Jersey, and has lived in the Raleigh area in North Carolina since 2009. Bev has been married to Randy for 18 years, and has two teenage daughters, Emma, 17, and Livvy, 14. She also has a 3-year-old Aussidoodle, Griffin.

Bev has been living with Crohn’s Disease and Psoriatic Arthritis for over two decades. She first contacted Claudia after being denied opioid medication while hospitalized for kidney stones in 2017. She was denied due to being a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. Bev is a passionate advocate for people with chronic pain and illness as well as those who have survived sexual assault/abuse. Bev has her B.A. in Psychology and hopes to get her M.S.W. in the near future. Bev is a voracious reader and researcher. She is passionate about understanding why pain patients are being mistreated, so she can educate other patients and empower them to fight back. Bev hopes her advocacy work brings awareness to the anti-opioid zealots who are profiting off of punishing pain patients while pretending to care about those with addiction. She also believes strongly in Harm Reduction efforts.

In her free time, Bev can be found reading, watching soccer, and playing with her emotional support animal, Griffin.

She can be reached at .