Yesterday Scott Gottlieb, head of the Food and Drug Administration, acknowledged that the crackdown on pain pills, aimed at preventing nonmedical use, is hurting legitimate patients, some of whom have contacted his agency. He announced a July 9 public meeting focusing on the concerns of people who use opioids to relieve chronic pain. The FDA is accepting public comments on the subject through September 10.
"The feedback we received affirmed for us that as we address this crisis, we wouldn't lose sight of the needs of Americans living with chronic pain or coping with pain at the end of life," Gottlieb writes on the FDA's blog. "We've heard the concerns expressed by these individuals about having continued access to necessary pain medication, the fear of being stigmatized as an addict, challenges in finding health care professionals willing to work with or even prescribe opioids, and sadly, for some patients, increased thoughts of or actual suicide because crushing pain was resulting in a loss of quality of life."
