I went to Sacramento last Tuesday with the California Chiropractic Association. This was our Lobbying Legislative Day. We met with our elected representatives to share our concerns for our patient’s health and our health care policies. This year we sponsored a bill that would make it required for anyone prescribing opioid medications to provide a written and oral informed consent about the dangers of these drugs. The law also would require the prescribing practitioner to provide the patient with knowledge of non-drug therapies, such as Chiropractic, Acupuncture or mind related therapies for pain relief. For the first time in years, our Chiropractic bill was enthusiastically received. It was unanimously approved out of the Business and Professions Committee by a vote of 17 to 0.
When we met with Assemblyperson Patrick O’Donnell he was also surprised and happy that the bill was received so well. He did say that the completed law would take several more committees and probably a year to enact.
He said, “The time delay and committees are a good thing here at the capitol. It’s prudent that we take our time completely.”
I have mixed feelings about laws about anything however. Marijuana has been illegal since 1933 and the laws certainly did not stop anyone from using it. Guns have been illegal in Mexico for close to 100 years and the violence continues.
The best form of positive change is only on an individual basis. And most of us do not make any major changes to our health and well-being until we absolutely have to. And our laws seem to only echo what the popular wisdom allows.
Somewhere along my path I learned to “listen for similarities” to other peoples stories and see how I was heading down a similar road. My parents and sister all died of cancer and smoked cigarettes until they died. I smoked for 39 years. After having buried my Mom from smoking related illness and struggling I am now nicotine free for 16 ½ years. None of those packs of cigarettes, when I was young, had informed consents about the hazards of smoking. I listened and watched for similarities in my life to my family’s health struggles. Our news is filled with tragic stories of prescription opioid overdoses everyday. It’s time for positive change.
Now I “listen for similarities” to joyous people with a positive outlook….I even have a web site titled, “Things are Looking Up Today.com”. Major positive change can happen in an instant when we fully recognize the need.
Even the California State government can listen to Chiropractors for a much needed positive change.
We met each of our representatives with a greeting of gratitude for their public service. The gratitude and acknowledgment certainly opened the door for us to be heard.
Thank you for reading these each month.
I am grateful for your “listening”
And healthy.
So far.
