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Yale Study Confirms Chiropractic Provides Drug-Free (Read Opioid-Free) Pain Reduction

By Dr. John Rosa

Chiropractic Care Reduces Need for Opioids

As a chiropractor who is actively and passionately involved in doing everything I can to make a positive impact toward ending the opioid epidemic in this country, I couldn’t have been more excited with the news that came out of the meeting of the Annual Meeting Of American Academy of Pain Medicine in early June. At this meeting the findings of a Yale School of Medicine study were presented that reveal “patients who have visited a chiropractor for musculoskeletal pain and associated conditions are currently 49 percent less likely to be issued and to receive an opioid prescription when compared to their counterparts who sought help from other healthcare providers.”

According to the announcement, “The Yale researchers selected a series of studies with a total of more than 60,000 patients to include in their analysis which was supported by the NCMIC Foundations, among several other organizations.” The upshot of this study means that chiropractic care is contributing toward a 50% reduction in opioid prescriptions issued in this country.

Driving Down Opioid Prescriptions

We are getting closer to getting a handle on the opioid crisis and driving down opioid prescriptions. Currently, clinical guidelines in the U.S. now recommend many non-pharmacological options, including chiropractic care, to be considered as ‘front line’ treatments ahead of any medication, including opioids. It has been shown that Chiropractors, specifically, provide many of the treatments currently advised by clinical guidelines for the initial care of lower back and neck pain, as well as osteoarthritis of the hips, knees, and hands, which may otherwise be treated with opioid medication. Don’t just accept a prescription for pain without asking for alternative.

A Chiropractic physician is the perfect gatekeeper to use non-drug and non-surgical approaches to treat pain. Most medical doctors are finally understanding the importance of using chiropractic and physical therapy before prescribing opioids. If you’re doctor isn’t there yet, you can see a chiropractor without a referral from your primary physician and chiropractor visits are covered by a majority of health insurance plans.

Temptation Can Kill With Just One Pill

By Dr. John Rosa

Our children are faced with more deadly challenges than ever before in history.

Going to school is no longer the place where kids come face-to-face with old-time bullies and cliques. Today’s children worry about being gunned down. And, in order to be considered “cool” they are peer-pressured to take pills they know nothing about. And these days, one pill can kill.

The stress that our children live under is unbearable. So, when they are convinced to try a counterfeit pill for fun or stress it’s difficult to resist. So many kids who take a single pill just one time end up dead. The problem is that for someone convinced to try an opioid laced pill for the first time – someone who has never been exposed to opioids – the body cannot tolerate even one grain of Fentanyl. One pill is a guaranteed death sentence. A few years ago there was a college in Colorado that lost 8 students in one semester.

Home Pill Presses Contributing To Deadlier Pills

Anyone can order a pill press machine online and have it delivered right to their door. This kind of easy access is contributing to the wider distribution of deadlier opioid pills. Among the most popular fake pills being pressed today are Percocet and Xanax, both of which are being made with the addition of heroin and/or Fentanyl. Fentanyl has surpassed heroin as the deadliest drug. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid with between 50 to 100 times the potency of heroin and morphine. A dose of less than two milligrams of fentanyl, about the size of a grain of sand, can be fatal.

Just Say “NO” To Any Pill

I urge parents to talk to children of every age about the dangers of taking any pills. If you can, please do your best to establish a “just don’t do it” rule. From the very youngest school children to those in high school and college, you must talk about the dangers openly. Do everything you can to make your children understand that they can die if they are tempted to experiment even once.

The temptation to be seen as “cool” is not worth it. As parents, we must make it our business to educate children thoroughly about the dangers of taking a single pill. Even if one pill doesn’t kill a child, one pill can wreak havoc. It can begin an addiction. It can mess up the brain. It can ruin the rest of a child’s life and along with it, that child’s family’s life.

Gone Is The Age Of Innocence

With everything we humans are exposed to in the digital age, innocence is a quality that gets ripped away from children way too soon. It’s becoming more and more difficult to monitor what children are exposed to. The age of innocence is a thing of the past. And opioid pills laced with deadly ingredients by amoral dealers concerned only with greed is one of the worst nightmares. A new school year always brings new challenges. Pray that your children know how to deal with the challenge of being offered pills. There’s only one answer that will do. A resounding NO!

A Cottage Industry That Kills

By Dr. John Rosa

Nowadays it seems that there is a market for everything.

For the most part when you hear the term ‘cottage industry’ you think of baked goods or other homemade items being sold at farmer’s markets or at specialty shops online. Unfortunately, there is a new and much more lucrative cottage industry that has popped up and it’s a real killer.

This new home-grown industry is counterfeit pills laced with deadly ingredients. It’s not just teenagers who are being killed by this new cottage industry. Anyone addicted to opioids is at risk as well as innocent family members. I read about a 10-month old baby boy who found a pretty blue pill on the floor. It had fallen out of his father’s pants pocket. The baby, as babies do, put the pretty pill in his mouth and when his parents woke up, the baby was dead.

Kill Presses

Pill presses are readily available over the Internet for well under $500. Instructions on how to assemble and use these presses are also available online.

According to a report, “a small investment of $1,000 for a pill press and a pill mold, and a few thousand more for materials, including illicitly imported fentanyl and binding agents, could yield between $5 to $20 million in sellable counterfeit opioid pills.” They might as well call them KILL presses!

Talk to Your Loved Ones

With school starting soon, please talk to your children about not being peer-pressured into taking any kind of pills. Educating your children to the deadly nature of opioids in general and pills from unknown sources could save your child’s life.

As I mentioned earlier, it isn’t just children who are at risk. There are millions of adults who are addicted to opioids and will get their pills wherever they can. The cottage pill industry is growing and taking lives on a daily basis. Keep educating your family about the deadly dangers of opioids.

If you, or someone you love is dependent on or addicted to opioid drugs, please seek help before it’s too late. If you would like to learn more about the Opioid Crisis as it relates to awareness, prevention and treatment or schedule a corporate or organization seminar contact us at DrJohnRosa.com. Here you will learn how to connect you, your company or organization with the leading experts on the crisis and how to help your community stay safe.

Opioids Ordered On The Internet Delivered In The Regular Mail

By Dr. John Rosa

Welcome to the Internet of Death

You’ve heard of IoT, or the Internet of things? Well, I’ll like to introduce you to the IoD, or the Internet of Death. You can order just about any kind of drug imaginable on the Internet and have it delivered to your doorstep by the United States Postal Service.

Maybe you are already aware of this. Back in April of this year, the TV news show, 60-Minutes aired a segment entitled “Deadly Fentanyl Bought Online From China Being Shipped Through The Mail,” in which it explained that the U.S. Postal System is one of the easiest ways to smuggle drugs into the U.S.

The segment brings to light how cheap and easy it is for addicts to buy deadly fentanyl and other fentanyl-based drugs online and get them shipped right to their door. It’s bad enough that the drugs are so readily available right here at home. Now with greater accessibility online and through the U.S.P.S, that’s an even more deadly combination.

According to the report, among the drugs available online is one called ‘Carfentanyl.’ It is a derivative of fentanyl used by veterinarians to tranquilize elephants. According to the 60-Minutes segment, “Carfentanyl is another 100 times more potent than fentanyl.” In the piece, the U.S. Attorney in Cleveland, Justin Herdman told correspondent, Scott Pelley, that just touching the drug could be deadly. He said, “Here (with fentanyl) you’ve got 300 grams of powder that could deliver a fatal dose to 150,000 people. Here (with Carfentanyl) you’ve got only five grams of powder which could deliver a fatal dose to over 250,000 people.”

The 60-Minute report said they found the Chinese connection and shut down at least 40 websites selling illegal drugs in 20 languages. However, authorities cannot be sure if the lab making the drugs has been shut down.

Why It’s So Easy To Send Drugs Through The U.S. Postal Service

I’m not actually too surprised that you can buy drugs on the Internet. You can buy just about anything on the dark net. Even though it is illegal to do so and if you’re caught, you could go to jail. But what’s equally disturbing is the fact it’s so easy to send illegal drugs through the regular mail.

Here’s why it’s so disturbing. After 9/11 all private carriers like FedEx have been required to give U.S. Customs advance descriptions and tracking of foreign packages. However, the Postal Service was allowed to delay because of the enormous cost to implement the process. That leniency has lasted nearly 2 decades. Meanwhile, people are dying as a result.

Mail Order Death And Destruction

From guns to opioids, and other things I don’t even want to imagine, the Internet has opened up a world of death, destruction and darkness. Of course most of us use the Internet for legal things and it has given us access to instant information on every topic in the world. That’s an amazing and wonderful accomplishment. But, how do we protect our children and loved ones from the horrors that are so readily available? How do we avoid coming home and finding our children dead from an opioid overdose? We owe it to ourselves to discover a way to stop this access to opioids and end the devastating heartbreak.

What Happens To An Infant’s Brain On Opioids

By Dr. John Rosa

This is not a question that should have to be asked.

However, it is one that has had to be asked and studied and answered since 1991 when opioid deaths began to rise. The three following examples from the professional American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) are just a tiny sampling of what’s going on in our world as a result of being steeped in the opioid crisis for nearly 30 years.

“A speech-language pathologist is called in to help with a newborn who is struggling with feeding. It turns out the infant has neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). His feeding problem is just one of many symptoms he experiences as he withdraws from the opioids his mother used during pregnancy”.

“An audiologist receives a referral to follow up with an infant who did not pass her newborn hearing screening. She has a history of NAS as a result of the opioids and other drugs her mother is addicted to. Fortunately, the screening result was false-positive, and the child has no hearing loss.”

“A school-based SLP gets an IEP testing request for a student who is lagging behind his peers in his language and literacy skills. It turns out the student had NAS as an infant.”

When Will the Madness End?

According to specialists, those referenced above and others, babies deprived of opioids after birth tend to be fussier, have gastrointestinal issues and difficulties feeding. They also suggest that children who experienced NAS as infants may struggle with communication and literacy. The big concern though is that the effects of NAS may never disappear. There is concern that adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes may be long-term.

We are seeing and living with the mainstream results of Generation O, as I wrote about in a previous article (see The Early Demise Of Innocence For Generation “O”). According to and article on the ASHA websites, “The number of infants with NAS increased by 300 percent between 2009 and 2013, with an incidence of six cases per 1,000 births in 2013, the last time these statistics were collected.

In other words, every 25 minutes in the U.S., an infant is diagnosed with NAS. More current state-level statistics suggest the problem is worsening. In Tennessee, incidence rose from 0.7 to 13.0 cases between 1999 and 2015.”

How and when are we going to stop this madness? We are merely perpetuating more pain and suffering. Let’s not forget the innocent children as we make efforts to find meaningful ways to curb this crisis.

The Early Demise Of Innocence For Generation “O”

By Dr. John Rosa

Generation “O” is a term I coined a few years ago while researching the under-reported effects of the Opioid Crisis on our nation’s children.

The “O” stands for overdose and yes, an entire generation is being affected by this opioid crisis. The “O” can just as easily also stand for “overlooked” and “outcast.”

Every Day Events

In our so-called sophisticated, civilized country these are events that happen every single day:

90 babies are born addicted to opioids EVERY DAY.
Children witness an overdose of their parent EVERY DAY.
Children are forced to take care of themselves and siblings as parents can’t get out of bed EVERY DAY.
Children are placed into foster care due to unfit parents or being orphaned from overdose death EVERY DAY.
Grandparents are taking in grandchildren when they don’t have the health or means to care for them EVERY DAY.

Overdosed And Overlooked

An entire generation of children is being born addicted to opioids or simply living lives of untold suffering as a result of parents addicted to opioids. And this is happening in the midst of supposedly the richest, most sophisticated nation on the planet. I don’t see us as so sophisticated or wise. We have become so numb to the problems society faces and although we know such problems exist we think someone else is fixed them. This is simply not true especially as it relates to the Opioid Crisis.

Why should the children have to endure this kind of suffering? The innocent children of this nation are the helpless victims of adults who fall victim to dependency and addiction or sometimes just act irresponsible. Greed is the motivating factor. Drug companies deliver false information, distribution companies don’t report excessive purchasing from pharmacies, pharmacies don’t report doctors who excessively prescribe, drug cartels see an opportunity to flood the market with heroin and Fentanyl and the result is 150 people a day die and thousands overdose and survive. The incident child falls victim to an opioid overdose without ever taking the drug.

We Need Adults To Take Action Now

We need action, and we need it now. We need to stop the flow of opioids. We need to combat the pervasive stigma, misunderstanding and fear about substance use and abuse. We must face the ugliness if we are ever to put an end to it.

Very specifically we need action in four areas as clearly pointed out by Carol Levine and Suzanne Brundage, co-authors of The Ripple Effect, The Impact of The Opioid Crisis on Children and Families. They write, “First, we must combat the pervasive stigma, misunderstanding, and fear about substance use. Stigma prevents parents from accessing treatment and shames children from reaching out for help when they are in a tough family situation; it also perpetuates a belief that children must be removed from home when, in many cases, this can be prevented.”

“Second, the ripple effect must become a public and political priority. For too long, society has underinvested in family-centered treatment programs that support child development. We need an infusion of resources.”

“Third, we must improve communication, coordination, and collaboration among government agencies, health-care providers, and community service organizations. It shouldn’t matter which door a parent enters to seek help; every door should lead to family-centered care.”

“Finally, we need to find compassionate and meaningful ways to identify children at risk and provide them and their families with ongoing support.”

Don’t forget the children!

Cars Are Less Deadly Than The Opioid Crisis

By Dr. John Rosa

You are more likely to die from an overdose than a car accident.

You read that right. From 1999-2017, almost 400,000 people died from overdoses involving an opioid, including prescription drugs, heroin, or synthetic drugs like fentanyl, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As a nation, we used to be worried about getting into automobile accidents as the most common unnatural way to meet our Maker. But now opioids have taken the lead. According to the New York Times, “The opioid crisis in the United States has become so grim that Americans are now likelier to die of an overdose than in a vehicle crash. That’s according to a new report by the National Safety Council that analyzed the causes of preventable deaths in the country in 2017. The probability of dying from an opioid overdose, according to the report, is one in 96. The chances of dying in a vehicle crash? One in 103.”

Who Benefits?

So, it would appear that the only ones who are benefitting from this man-made crisis are the pharmaceutical companies and the companies that distribute them. Although most doctors were fooled into believing opioids were ok for all pain the unethical doctors made out like bandits as well. The rest of us are experiencing the trauma and the adverse effects that ripple throughout society. Two thousand pounds of steel and glass are now less likely to kill than a small pill.

Arresting The Opioid Epidemic Includes Arresting Doctors, Nurses And Pharmacists

By Dr. John Rosa

The Opioid Epidemic Has Reached Crisis Proportions

As a country in an enormous crisis that is ending the lives of roughly 130 Americans every day, it’s a difficult problem to address. With 80% of heroin users stating they started with a prescription opioid it is clear that a majority of our epidemic was initiated by a medical system meant to protect us. Early on in the push to treat pain as the 5th vital sign doctors prescribing opioids were given false information that the medication was not addictive, and they were convinced by big pharma and the government to aggressively treat pain. For this reason, I give the medical system a pass during the first few years of over prescribing. The problem arises when the medical system turned a blind eye to dependency and addiction of their patient base and even worse there are way too many that let greed trump life. And now, it seems, instead of following the Hippocratic Oath, many doctors and other health professionals have become hypocrites.

Focus On An Area Where Addiction Has Taken A Heavy Toll

One way to put a stop to the problem is for law enforcement agencies to focus on the source of easy access to drugs. This has actually proved to be a somewhat successful strategy which led to the recent arrest of at least 60 “healthcare” individuals. As a recent article that came to my attention says, “Dozens of U.S. health care professionals have been charged for health care fraud schemes and illegally prescribing and distributing opioids and other dangerous narcotics in the latest federal enforcement action addressing the nation’s opioid crises. The crackdown involves 60 individuals, and more than a quarter million illegal prescriptions written in several states. The medical professionals include doctors, pharmacists and nurse practitioners.

Chronic pain affects 1 in 5 Americans.

Pain reduction and relief is a priority in the medical field. However, when you see a particular area of the county experiencing an alarming rate of opioid deaths, that might be an area to focus on when looking for the source of the problem. This is what the Department of Justice (DOJ) did when they focused on Appalachia, in an attempt to cut off the flow of too many opioids in an area where addiction has already taken a heavy toll.

As Brian Banczkowski who runs the DOJ’s criminal division told npr.org, “You can rest assured, when medical professionals behave like drug dealers, the Department of Justice is going to treat them like drug dealers.”

It’s a beginning, albeit a small one. As law enforcement looks more closely at all medical professionals prescribing opioids, distribution companies, pharma and its CEOs there will be more arrests. And more importantly, maybe we’ll arrest the problem of the untimely deaths of so many loved ones.

Examples Of Medical Professionals’ Criminal Behavior

Just in case you’re wondering how they do it, I’ve taken this example from the Department of Justice website. It’s pretty nefarious behavior for those that so many people trust with their lives. Here’s how one doctor operated. “A neurologist at an alleged pill mill was charged with conspiracy to dispense controlled substances and conspiracy to commit health care fraud. The defendant allegedly pre-signed prescriptions for controlled substances, including oxycodone, for patients whom he did not personally examine to determine medical necessity for the prescriptions, and pre-signed prescriptions for controlled substances while he was travelling internationally. The defendant allegedly knew that certain of these patients used their Medicare Part D and Medicaid benefits to pay for the medically unnecessary prescriptions.”

The information on the website includes the following:

“Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which maintains 14 strike forces operating in 23 districts, has charged nearly 4,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $14 billion. The Medicare Fraud Strike Force, including the ARPO Strike Force, has charged more than 200 individuals with opioid-related crimes.”

A Doctor Who Called Himself “The Candy Man” Faces 20 Years In Prison

Another recent case of arrest involves a New Jersey doctor who called himself “candy man” and “El Chapo of opioids.” According to NBC News, “He is accused of distributing opioids without a legitimate medical reason and falsifying medical records to cover it up, according to federal prosecutors. The court documents go on to allege that Delagente allowed patients to ask him for controlled substances via text message and would write a prescription for patients that he would leave at the front desk, without requiring an office visit or consultation of any kind.”

You Can Help

It’s time to put an end to this madness. If someone you love is dependent on or addicted to opioid drugs, please seek help before it’s too late. If you would like to learn more about the Opioid Crisis as it relates to awareness, prevention and treatment or schedule a corporate or organization seminar contact us at DrJohnRosa.com. Here you will learn how to connect with the leading experts on the crisis and how to help your community stay safe.

Pain, Pain Go Away Don’t Come Back Another Day

By Dr. John Rosa

Did you know that 1in 5 Americans lives with chronic pain?

With those kinds of numbers it’s no wonder there’s an opioid addiction epidemic. Instead of looking for the perfect magic pill to ‘cure’ the pain, it is my goal to turn people who live with pain to other ways of diminishing and eliminating pain so that they can get on with their lives.

I was happy to see that Consumer Reports did a June cover article addressing chronic pain in this country and the most current and effective ways of dealing with it. In an attempt to curtail the use of opioids, the article is very clear that is not the route to take. In the article, David Tauben, M.D., chief of pain medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, says that, “Pain is an alert, a signal from the brain that there’s something really wrong you need to pay attention to for your survival, be that a rock in your shoe or a broken ankle. Typically the pain fades after you address the problem and the body has a chance to heal.” He goes on to add, “But sometimes the nervous system malfunctions. It gets stuck in the position of ‘I hurt and I’m in danger.’” According to Dr. Tauben, “Medications can help ease the pain, but calming the nervous system requires non-drug measures.” (Real Pain Relief Now, Consumer Reports, June 2019)

If you can get your hands on a copy of the June issue of Consumer Reports, I highly recommend reading the entire article. The point of view is in keeping with what I believe is the best method for diminishing and relieving chronic pain. That method includes a combination of treatments such as mindfulness and hands-on healing methods such as chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, as well as physical activities such as yoga, walking, swimming and tai chi. They also recommend getting appropriate amounts of sleep and psychological treatment in the form of cognitive behavioral therapy.

The good news is that more and more people are realizing the devastating effects of opioids.

If someone you love is dependent on or addicted to opioid drugs, please seek help before it’s too late. If you would like to learn more about the Opioid Crisis as it relates to awareness, prevention and treatment or schedule a corporate or organization seminar contact us at DrJohnRosa.com. Here you will learn how to connect with the leading experts on the crisis and how to help your community stay safe.

I See The Future Of Pill-Free Pain-Relief With The Help Of Ancient Methods

By Dr. John Rosa

I can see the future and I invite you to envision it with me.

It is a place and time when the model for healthcare has taken a turn for the healthier and more humane. In this future the human being is seen as the self-healing system that it truly is and always has been. When injured and in pain an integrative method is employed to awaken the individual’s natural inner healing properties, potentialities and possibilities.

Prescriptions For Healing

This future that I see makes use of multiple therapies, both modern and ancient, including chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, psychotherapy, yoga, physical therapy, meditation, topical creams and ointments, among others. Primary care doctors prescribe all of these treatments, many of which are available within the primary care facility.

Long gone are the days when people craved a pill to end their pain. Patients are actively involved in their health care. They take self-care seriously and because of their demands the entire medical establishment was forced to change to meet those demands. In this future/present that I see, people are continuously waking up to their own innate healing potential. They no longer want to mask their pain, they want to get it out of their body.

Mind And Body Are One

The mind plays a primary role in this future scenario which I see so vividly. Humans have stopped giving their minds and bodies over to people who believe that those are separate entities. Ancient cultures throughout history have espoused the wholeness of being. Only in the western culture beginning with what has become known as the “modern age” did this belief that mind and body are separate begin. Fortunately, we have come full circle. Once a majority of people stopped believing their bodies and minds were separate is when the real healing began.

This is why meditation also plays a major role in pain control. Even though meditation sounded foreign to most Americans, it is a method that has been enjoyed and employed by ancient traditions as well as contemporary spiritual leaders. It took some time before meditation was demystified enough to become widely practiced by regular folk. But, that happened, thankfully and now if you don’t have a meditation practice you are simply considered not yet awake.

Know Thyself

The Socratic command to “Know Thyself” has survived from ancient Greece. It’s no wonder since it epitomizes what’s at the very essence of self-healing beginning with the practice of meditation. Unlike what many people have thought about meditation, the goal is quite simply to focus and understand your own mind. To Know Thyself. Scientists are still discovering all of the benefits meditation offers. A regular meditation practice can help a person control emotions, enhance concentration and decrease stress.

We Need To Share The Vision

The future is ours to make. If we can see it in our mind, we can bring it into being. If someone you love is dependent on or addicted to opioid drugs today, please seek help immediately.

If you share my vision and would like to learn more about it and how to stop cultivating a culture of chronic pain and suffering contact us at DrJohnRosa.com. Here you will find information and resources about the Opioid Crisis as it relates to awareness, prevention and treatment. You may also schedule a corporate or organization seminar and learn how to connect with the leading experts on the crisis and how to help your community stay safe.