RECOVERY REFORM
NOW
WAKE UP FDA
IT’S UNCLEAR WHICH SIDE THE FDA IS ON.
The FDA and its leadership talk a big game about combating the opioid crisis. These promises aren’t reflected in their actions.
We’re calling on the FDA to WAKE UP and do its part to stop opioid-related deaths. Learn more about the campaign here >>
The Press Releases below outline more information.
PREVIOUS PRESS RELEASES
Wake Up FDA Campaign Statement on FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb’s Resignation
WASHINGTON, D.C. – March 5, 2019 – Statement from Ryan Hampton, Wake Up FDA campaign spokesperson and national recovery advocate, on the resignation of FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb:
“We launched Wake Up FDA in response to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s failure to appropriately combat the opioid epidemic under Commissioner Scott Gottlieb. Commissioner Gottlieb’s resignation today marks a hopeful moment that new leadership will have a more acute understanding of the necessary solutions and will exercise the FDA’s full authority to combat this public health emergency.
We urge President Trump to get it right this time. Use this opportunity to appoint a new commissioner who will take a public health approach to the opioid crisis.
Recovery Advocates to the FDA: WAKE UP
New campaign demands accountability and action from the Food and Drug Administration on the opioid crisis
WASHINGTON, D.C. – February 25, 2019 – Recovery Reform NOW today launched “Wake Up FDA,” a campaign to demand the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) use its full discretion to stop the opioid crisis and support recovery. The campaign is a public condemnation of the FDA for being complicit in the opioid crisis. Though the FDA claims to be dedicated to advancing recovery treatment, they continue to approve new and more dangerous opioid painkillers while shelving innovative recovery medications—all without any transparency or accountability.
“Every day, 130 people are dying from opioid overdose. Enough is enough,” said Frank A. Jones, founder of Recovery Reform NOW. “We have to expose the FDA’s doublespeak and hold them accountable for the dangerous actions they have taken and the barriers they have erected. It’s time for the FDA to put its words into action and prioritize recovery.”
Letter to President Trump
We need real action
Dear President Trump and Secretary Azar,
During this period of leadership transition at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), we implore you to intervene and urge the Administration to use its full discretion and authority to combat the opioid crisis that is killing 130 Americans every day.
Despite bold statements about their efforts, the FDA is failing to adequately promote recovery and has even taken steps to make it harder to achieve recovery while continuing to flood the market with powerful new opioid painkillers.
For example, in November 2018, the FDA approved a form of sufentanil, the most potent opioid on the market, despite criticism and outrage from advocates, providers and policymakers. The next month, the FDA shelved an innovative recovery treatment, a monthly or weekly depot injection of buprenorphine, despite deeming it “safe and effective.”
Currently, there are eight times more opioid painkillers available to patients than there are recovery medications. When we put this in context of the decisions the FDA has made over the last six months, it’s clearly time to hold the FDA accountable.
800-Pound Metal Heroin Spoon Dropped Outside HHS Building in D.C.
Recovery activists protest the FDA’s irresponsible opioid approvals, demand focus on recovery
WASHINGTON, D.C. – April 5, 2019 – Recovery Reform Now, along with The Opioid Spoon Project (OSP), Prescription Addiction Intervention Now (P.A.I.N.), and Team Sharing, held an action today in front of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in Washington, D.C. where they dropped an 800-pound metal spoon stamped with the logo of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The spoon, created by activist/artist Domenic Esposito of The Opioid Spoon Project, protests the FDA’s recent approvals of new, exceptionally powerful opioid painkillers and lack of action in approving and bringing to market new innovative recovery medications.
“The FDA’s irresponsible actions in response to the opioid crisis are both inexplicable and dangerous,” said Wake Up FDA spokesperson Ryan Hampton, recovery activist, founder of The Voices Project and author of American Fix: Inside the Opioid Addiction Crisis – and How to End It. “Defying recommendations from its own advisory board members and other experts, the FDA continues to approve dangerous opioids that will wind up diverted while limiting access to recovery medications that would fill gaps in care. We demand transparency and accountability, and we call on the FDA to address the opioid crisis with the urgency it deserves.”