Fentanyl crisis response ignores needs of pain patients

Published 6:30 am Tuesday, February 6, 2024

You wouldn’t know it from reading The Herald’s one-sided editorial on the “opioid crisis,” but there are Snohomish County residents who legitimately need and responsibly use these medications for chronic pain conditions rather than just for kicks (“Rep. Larsen outlines ‘to do’ list for opioid crisis,” The Herald, Jan. 27).

Because of years of media and political hysteria surrounding these drugs, big-name medical facilities such as Providence now routinely deny them for non-emergency pain, and legitimate patients are forced to go ER hopping or plead their case to specialty pain clinics with more restrictive insurance policies (sorry, Medicaid people), most of which seem to be inconveniently located in King County.

I’d like to see The Herald editorial board and Rep. Rick Larsen live with a week of my arthritis pain and not be begging for something stronger than aspirin, acetaminophen or months of ineffectual “physical therapy” appointments.

John Brown

Arlington