Calmare Therapeutics Inc (fka CTTC)

[powderbum]

Article makes the case that insurance companies paying for drugs instead of alternative non-pharma solutions to pain may be the biggest problem.


Everyone's needed to fight drug epidemic

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POSTED: Monday, February 8, 2016, 1:07 AM



ISSUE | DRUG ABUSE

Everyone is needed to fight epidemic

I am deeply moved by the openness of John Decker's family and their attempt to illuminate a dark and disturbing issue ("Life of promise lost to addiction," Jan. 31).

The heroin epidemic in this country is the fault of many. As former Gov. Ed Rendell pointed out, pharmaceutical companies profit from the sale of opioids, physicians freely dispense overly strong painkillers, and the federal Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention don't protect us ("To end painkiller epidemic, make it personal," Thursday).

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John Decker is the child of all of us, and it will take that many voices to be heard and to change what is happening to affluent, middle-class, and poor sons and daughters in our country.

For those who say that addiction is not a sickness, I urge you to do more to better inform yourselves.

Kim McDonnell, Paoli

Offer alternatives to painkillers

As a practicing nurse, I support controlling the abuse of prescription pain medications ("Change in Medicare can help stem abuse of opioids," Wednesday). Considering the work done to reduce the number of prescriptions written, I wonder:

Have we successfully cut the amount of medication prescribed while reducing the experience of pain?

Do fewer prescriptions correlate with fewer patients in pain?

Have we merely cut off the treatment without correcting the problem?

What alternatives to drugs are available to people in pain?

Try getting insurance coverage for things that can manage pain without drugs that lead to addiction and death, such as chiropractic care, yoga, reiki treatment, massage, meditation, and acupuncture.

When insurance covers only prescription drugs for pain treatment, the abuse of pain medication is no surprise. We need to do better.

Jo Catanzaro, Philadelphia, [e-mail]


Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20160208_Everyone_s_needed_to_fight_drug_epidemic.html#jzZWBkuUYsEzpuyh.99