Governor Proclaims Drug-Free Pain Management Awareness Month 2021

WHEREAS, with prescription opioid use leading to abuse and addiction, drug overdoses have become the leading cause of injury death in the United States; and

WHEREAS, from 1999 to 2019, nearly 500,000 people have died in the United States from overdoses related to prescription opioids, while in 2019 nearly 49,860 people died from opioid overdoses; and

WHEREAS, the total economic burden of prescription opioid misuse alone in the United States is estimated around $78.5 billion a year, including the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement; and

WHEREAS, prescription opioids are often recommended for low back, neck and musculoskeletal pain management, over 100 million people suffer with chronic pain and an estimated 80 percent of all Americans will experience some form of back pain during their lifetime; and

WHEREAS, Doctor of Chiropractic (DCs) are educated and trained to effectively address spinal and neuro-musculoskeletal pain with non-surgical as well as non-drug management options; and

WHEREAS, numerous published studies, such as The Lancet (March 2018), document spinal manipulation as an effective option for the management of low back pain; and

WHEREAS, the Bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO) published recommendations to manage low back pain initially with non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as spinal manipulation (chiropractic adjustments), to avoid opioids, spinal injections and surgery; and

WHEREAS, Drug-Free Pain Management Awareness Month is nationally recognized to raise public awareness of the goal of ending the opioid abuse and advancing utilization and accessibility of drug-free chiropractic care;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, ROY COOPER, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim September, 2021, as “DRUG-FREE PAIN MANAGEMENT AWARENESS MONTH” in North Carolina, and commend its observance to all citizens.