.@AndrewYang's #opioid policy is completely divorced from fact. It would do nothing to reduce ODs, which are driven by illegal drugs, & would exacerbate harm to #pain patients already slammed by unnecessary disability & rising rates of #suicide. 
For a #math guy, @AndrewYang has failed to plot reductions in #opioid scripts & rising rates of OD. If he had, he would've found that reducing scripts has done nothing to slow ODs which are driven by illegal drugs.
#AndrewYang's #opioid policy would have "a modest effect, at best, on the number of #opioid overdose deaths in the near future," according to complex mathematical modeling. Yang's campaign is centered on his claim that he'd base policies on statistical evidence.
#AndrewYang is clearly completely unaware of that peer-reviewed evidence shows less than 1% of prescreened patients develop addiction during #pain care. His #opioid policy rests on the false assumption that most addictions begin with prescription opioids.
#AndrewYang seems completely unaware that the FDA issued a label change in April, warning doctors against forcing patients off #opioids, which could lead some patients to use illegal drugs, including heroin, to treat uncontrolled #pain.
President #AndrewYang would strip doctors of their ability to prescribe #opioids unless they completed specialized education in #pain care. Doesn't he know that patients who take #opioids safely & effectively struggle to find doctors willing to care for them?
#HumanityFirst is #AndrewYang's campaign slogan. One plank in his #opioid policy is: "Doctors need to tell more patients that they’ll feel better on their own without having to take opiates."
#Pain professionals couldn't disagree more. They hold that #pain care is a human right.
#Pain professionals couldn't disagree more. They hold that #pain care is a human right.
#HumanityFirst #AndrewYang says "Doctors need to tell more patients that they’ll feel better on their own without having to take #opiates." He needs to read the Human Rights Watch report on the harms of denying effective meds to people in #pain. @hrw hrw.org/report/2018/12…
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