Rally Against Pain, 10/22 in DC

Chronic pain patients across America are suffering more now than they have in decades. The medications they need for a quality life have suddenly been reduced or taken away altogether. Many have resorted to suicide because they can't endure their unrelenting pain. Some are able to unite and fight for their fundamental right to pain medication. We are Veterans and Americans United for Equality in Medical Care, and we are asking you to help us fund our Rally Against Pain at the Washington, DC Ellipse on October 22. We insist federal agencies, the president, Congress and the medical community hear the reality of chronic pain patients and end this national pain crisis.


For several reasons, physicians are suddenly reducing or terminating opioid perscriptions for chronic pain patients, and some have even abandoned chronic pain patients altogether. Some ignore or deny the pain their patients report. Others throw their hands in the air and tell patients they have to find another doctor or travel to a pain clinic, where  basic privacy rights  are infringed and the individual's unique needs are denied.  Some doctors are pressured by insurance companies and their peers to limit opioids.

Patients are devasted. Tragically, many are left with pain so severe that they take their life.  Others hang on to life but wake in pain, have every activity of the day weighed down in pain, and go to bed in pain, falling asleep only from exhaustion. Unrelenting pain often renders people unable to function at work or school, and and it hurts their ability to engage with family, friends, and the community. 

Part of the reason for this pain crisis has to do with recent federal regulations and recommendations to the medical community. In March 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued "CDC Guideline forPrescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain." The purported reason for the guideline is to improve chronic pain patient safety, but the guidelines focus on denying or curtailing the prescription of opioids, not technologies and measures to make opioids safer. The CDC describes a world in sharp contrast to the reality of chronic pain patients who need opioids to have a quality life. Similarly, policies at the Veterans Administration (VA) facilities have curtailed and denied opioid prescriptions, and they have completely disqualified many veterans for VA services  because they test positive for the very  opioids they were prescribed! On August 31 of this year the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) struck against chronic pain patients by outlawing a previously unrestricted herbal pain remedy, Kratom.  The DEA made Kratom a Schedule 1 drug, which means  they unilaterally pronounce it to have no medical benefits and high abuse potential.  

Overall, these policies lead the public to conflate the national opioid abuse problem with chronic pain patients. Opioid abusers may steal opioids from patients or buy street versions to get high. Patients with short term or ordinary pain may indeed abuse opioids they don't need and tragically lose their lives. Yet, the CDC has chosen to spotlight people who are in chronic, long-term pain instead of opioid abusers who are not in pain. Chronic pain patients do not get high on opioids. Instead they are high-functioning patients who use their pain medication as prescribed. The credibility of chronic pain patients has been maligned, but we are fighting to restore it. We are rallying to be heard, to be seen, and to be believed by our government and physicians. 

A permit has been purchased to protest at the Washington Ellipse, south of the White House, and an audio system and podium have been donated. Organizers from accross the country are journeying to Washington, DC at their own expense. Invited speakers include patients, caregivers, and compassionate physicians.

The donations we seek are to gauranty a successful rally, rain or shine. Tents, signs,  flyers, t-shirts, portable restrooms, water, and food vendors will both spread our message and keep protesters at the rally as long as possible. Any proceeds from t-shirt sales or donatioms in excess of our goal will be used to make Veterans and Americans United for Equality in Medical Care a non-profit organization.  The specific way these funds are used will be posted in updates and on the Veterans and Americans United for Equality in Medical Care.on group page on Facebook:  VAUEMC 

Thank you in advance for you donations, no matter the size.  Please join us in the of the Washington Ellipse, south of the White House, on Saturday, October 22, 2016 from 10 AM to 5 PM.   To RS VP and tell your own story, visit and join Rally Against Pain.