Siobhan Reynolds, R.I.P.

Sad news. Pain treatment advocate and leader of the Pain Relief Network Siobhan Reynolds was killed this weekend in a plane crash.

See Radley Balko’s excellent post on Siobhan along with his links to others who have written tributes.

I never got to meet her, although I corresponded with her on occasion, and she liked Drug WarRant. She was absolutely tireless in her advocacy and made a real and lasting difference. Much of the national awareness of the government imposed deficit in pain relief is due to Siobhan Reynolds’ efforts.

She’ll be missed.

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25 Responses to Siobhan Reynolds, R.I.P.

  1. darkcycle says:

    Every person in pain had a tireless advocate in Siobhan. The government tried to silence her and failed, and her voice will echo for as long as prohibition remains. She will be missed.

  2. Ed Dunkle says:

    She was a true American heroine. She will be missed.

  3. Randy says:

    Sad, sad news. She did her best for her fellow man.

    RIP.

  4. allan says:

    another in a long line of women warriors… thank you Siobhan and via con dios…

    And yes, she definitely will be missed.

  5. Peter says:

    Heads up on Ryan Grim article on Huffpo. Ron Paul on racist and monetary-interest origins of wosd:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/27/ron-paul-drugs-drug-war_n_1170878.html

  6. claygooding says:

    Just say no to marijuana convictions

    http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-nullification-20111227,0,5349911.story

    Should juries vote “not guilty” on low-level marijuana charges to send a message about our country’s insane marijuana arrest policy?

    Tony Newman from DPA has the above oped and it is open for comments.

  7. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .
    Is there any interest in a betting pool on when the first website detailing the evidence of Ms. Reynold’s murder goes live? Perhaps some side bets of which part of the plane the men in black helicopters sabotaged? Maybe they shot her plane down with one of them newfangled drones?
    ———-
    Why wait for bad stuff to happen when you can panic preemptively? The addictionologists (read: phrenologists) have decided to honor Ms. Reynolds death in their very own inimitable manner:

    Painkiller 10 times stronger than Vicodin worries addiction experts
    December 26, 2011

    (CBS/AP) As pharmaceutical companies are approaching the final stages of development for a new type of painkiller said to be 10 times stronger than Vicodin, addiction experts worry a new wave of abuse may soon follow.

    Four companies have begun patient testing on the pills which contain a pure version of the highly addictive painkiller hydrocodone, and one of them – Zogenix of San Diego – plans to apply early next year to begin marketing its product, Zohydro.

    If approved, it would mark the first time patients could legally buy pure hydrocodone. Existing products combine the drug with nonaddictive painkillers such as acetaminophen.
    /snip/

    “I have a big concern that this could be the next OxyContin,” said April Rovero, president of the National Coalition [of Hysterical Rhetoric]. “We just don’t need this on the market.”
    /snip/

    Critics are troubled because a new narcotic painkiller can lead to more murders, pharmacy robberies, and millions of dollars lost by hospitals to treat overdose victims. Thousands of legitimate pain patients are becoming addicted to powerful prescription painkillers, they say, in addition to the thousands more who abuse them illegally.
    /snip/

    http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57348477-10391704/painkiller-10-times-stronger-than-vicodin-worries-addiction-experts/

    Oh my god we’re all going to die! Goodbye cruel world indeed.

    • stayan says:

      Would someone tell me how to distinguish between a legitimate pain patient and an illegitimate one?

    • claygooding says:

      It is funny to me that the DEA,who controls the amount of narcotics manufactured by each company,is always capable of allowing those same companies to manufacture enough to cover the legitimate market and the black market. I have never heard of a shortage of pain drugs,just that doctors were hesitant to prescribe them.

      • Duncan20903 says:

        .
        .
        You’re old enough to remember Quaaludes. I never heard of anyone who had trouble getting any of those suckers until after they went off patent and got moved to schedule I circa 1998. I may well be the only child of the ’70s who never tried those things. Downers just never were attractive to me. I did some Valium briefly but those were the doctor’s idea. IIRC I never even finished the bottle.

        • Windy says:

          I never wanted to do downers, either, the few times I had them (in hospital) I hated the way they made me feel. I’m a bit of a lazy ass, anyway, don’t need to take anything that would make me even more lazy. I much preferred Biphetamine 20’s, otherwise known as Black Beauties.

          My sister-in-law was hooked on Valium for years, made her a terrible mother, hubby and I ended up raising her two kids (from ages 12 and 14 to graduation from high school) in addition to my own three, who were 12, 10 and 9 when hers moved in with us. They still call me Mom and all of them still think of each other as siblings and they are all in their mid to late 40s, the oldest is about to turn 50 and just became a grandma for the first time. BTW, I’m going to be a great-grandma somewhere around May to July (due date not yet pinned down, that will come in the next couple weeks when she has her first ultrasound).

      • Tom Cuddy says:

        Actually there is a shortage of opium. Afghanistan applied to be the other country growing opium legally but India likes its monopoly and shut em down. So much for making a legal living. Pain patients who benefit from opioid therapy have no rights that need be respected by anyone. Siobhan was and is my hero. I am a caregiver and it is hard to take knowing that relief for your loved one’s symptoms exists and the prison/rehab/ police, dope war syndicate keeps doctors terrified. Sail on Siobhan…

      • Windy says:

        From alternet, no less, a call for more enforcement on pain meds:
        http://www.alternet.org/health/153576/america%27s_deadly_med_crisis_%28and_the_10_most_dangerous_pills%29/comments/
        only 6 comments so far, so . . .

  8. claygooding says:

    USA: Marijuana Use Is on the Rise … Among Dogs and Cats

    http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2011/12/marijuana_use_increasing_–_am.php

    Like their humans, animals are known to consume marijuana. In fact, many have long known that pot producers in the northern counties deer-proof their marijuana plants, else docile does and bucks will chew on the buds and leaves. This author once knew a parrot who liked to consume cured bud, as well as stems and seeds, and would actually seek out these mood-altering treats.

    Now they did it,,next will be doggie prisons,doggie rehab and a doggie drug czar,,,oops,,the drug czar already looks like “Droopy”.

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .
      Now they can say the shoot dogs to spare them the misery of addiction.

      Stems and seeds are mind altering? Why the hell was Commander Cody so sad when he sang “Down to Seeds & Stems Again Blues”?
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEg9FbuaSCk

      The world’s saddest song, no doubt.

      • Duncan20903 says:

        Oh wait, I get it. Having only seeds and stems made him very sad…mind alteration caused by seeds & stems!

        • claygooding says:

          Duncan,please don’t explain to the prohibitionist that thinking is a way of altering your consciousness ,,they couldn’t handle the knowledge.

  9. SubAuspiciisMrBrainwash says:

    By Tinsley Sammons:

    So-called drug-related crime is in reality prohibition-related crime. Research and critical thinking quickly reveal the criminal nature of the drug war itself. Absent prohibition and the prohibition inflated the cost of doing illicit business. Those now trafficking wouldn’t bother with trying to compete with your local drugstore for customer satisfaction.

    It is in the best interest of the longsuffering, statute-plagued American people to become aware of who the real criminals are in the so-called “War on Drugs.” De facto drug prohibition is the alpha precedent that continues to nullify constitutional restraint and paves the way for the state’s utter domination of the individual. ..

    .. Attempting to limit the intake of a substance by introducing a known toxin is an unlawful presumption of judicial power. Worse, adding Tylenol, a substance of well documented toxicity, for such an evil end is downright criminal. The issue should be addressed by lawsuits and an investigation by the Attorney General as well. ..

    .. Why add Tylenol? Opioids are safe and effective analgesics that need no mixing with other substances to control pain. Contaminating an opioid with Tylenol is a potential violence committed against persons seeking relief from pain. ..

    .. As the consequences of the drug war accumulate — consequences that can include imprisonment and in some cases, collateral damage that includes the death of innocents — the war on drugs surely has standing as an ongoing crime against humanity that merits a reaction based on the powerful precedent set by the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials.

    Pain and Poison

  10. vickyvampire says:

    Yeah sad news about Siobhan,what a strange country cupcakes are new terrorists threat gambling laws get loosened up but we put the screws to medical marijuana patients what a fucked up so called FREE country yeah Happy New Year.Oh and yeah Duncan they keep pumping out more NEW painkillers on the market and they just locked up a doctor here in Utah for prescribing to many of them NOT insanity!!!!!!!!.

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
      .
      But the only thing that’s “new” is that they’re not making people take acetaminophen to take hydrocodone. The only reason this combination existed was a morally bankrupt attempt to keep people from getting high because they thought guaranteed liver damage and possibly death would keep people from getting high. This move is actually one of harm reduction and one we should be applauding.

      If your anti-drug use plan is so inherently dangerous that it will almost certainly result in death or grave injury to another human being it certainly appears to certainly satisfy all the needed elements to sustain a charge of voluntary manslaughter. We should have class A felonies masquerading as public policy?

      • claygooding says:

        No more insidious than knowing that marijuana has an effect on cancer and could possibly cure it or prevent it and keeping it prohibited so researchers can try and copy the marijuana plant,,,for 40 years,,and refusing to let people use the plant as it is for as much protection and help as possible.

        How many people contracted a cancer that would never have happened if cannabis was part of our culture?

        Only time will tell,,and statistics after about 20 years of legalized cannabis.

        • Duncan20903 says:

          .
          .
          You’re telling me. I recall the day I read that cannabis was possibly a viable treatment for Alzheimer’s I cried. If I had a clue I sure as shit would have been feeding my old man cookies those last 5 years. There are days when I genuinely hope that the Know Nothings are actually right and we’re all just delusional because of just how horrid the people are who perpetrate this on our society in the alternative. But it’s just a passing thought; as horrid as it is we can’t wake the dead but there are people in the future who can benefit. Maybe even you and me.

  11. Servetus says:

    This is what is required to get quality medical treatment in America:

    “Montana authorities say a man shot himself in the ankle after hospital staff refused to give him painkillers for his back.”

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/12/28/national/a064441S98.DTL#ixzz1hqkGL8hI

  12. Pingback: In Memoriam: Siobhan Reynolds: 1961-2011 | Points: The Blog of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society

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