Assembly Bill 1998 will criminalize the prescribing of opioid pain medication for patients suffering legitimate pain from nerve damage, failed spine surgeries, fibromyalgia, CRPS, and chemotherapy-related neuropathy.

Some 42,000 Americans die from suicide each year, more than who die from prescription opioid overdoses. Those who suffer with Chronic Pain have more than double the rate of suicide risk. There are an estimated 100 million pain sufferers in the United States, many living in California, many who depend upon low dose opioid daily pain relievers to live and function.

The result of Assembly Bill 1998 will be millions of Californians unfairly and abruptly cut off of opioid pain medications as a result of fearful physicians not wanting to be charged with a crime in prescribing opioids. Many of these pain patients will either turn to street drugs or commit suicide.