Americans for Safe Access (ASA)’s End Pain Not Lives Campaign Against Opioid Overdoses
Americans for Safe Access (ASA) and the United States Pain Foundation have teamed with many others to take on the American opioid epidemic. They are doing so by launching the ‘End Pain Not Lives’ campaign. They have named it the opioid epidemic because opioid related deaths are currently claiming 91 American lives per day. However, states who have legalized medical cannabis have shown a 25% decrease of opioid overdose deaths. Despite this positive fact, many patients still don’t have safe access to medicinal cannabis due to inadequate state laws, federal-state legal conflict, and lack of education among patients and medical professionals alike.
The End Pain Not Lives campaign has built a multi-level suite of goals to help the American people utilize the powers of medical marijuana and change the landscape for a chronic pain patient in the country. At the state level, the campaign will lobby for sensible state policy and legislation. This stage will ensure that people with pain, chronic pain, and opioid use disorder can work with their medical professional to utilize medical treatment plans. Federally, these entities will work together to leverage cannabis therapies to pass the CARERS Act and other helpful cannabis-forward legislation.
Outside of regulatory points of action, the campaign will move to educate medical professionals, service providers, and patients on medical cannabis as it relates to chronic pain. They will also conduct clinical trials looking at the relationship between cannabinoids and opiates. To help engage all of these parties, the ASA has released social media tools, flyers, posters, educational materials and t-shirts so that everyone can get involved in spreading the word.
The campaign is also meant to help the American people engage in conversation with one another about medicinal cannabis. The End Pain Not Lives movement requires we tell our story of how cannabis has helped us to those we love AND our elected officials in hopes of supporting new cannabis-forward policies. To get active in the movement, join a local or state group working on the campaign, inspire friends and family to get involved, and if possible, come to DC in Spring of next year for lobby day.
Spread the word, share, advocate, activate, and if possible, donate to Americans for Safe Access to help them continue advocating on behalf of patients everywhere.
