Let me share that as a hydrocodone user of 20 yrs, a neuroscientist and patient advocate of 20 yrs & earlier supporter of Public Citizen, I am appalled at their role in restricting patient access to any drug, device, or medical treatment that has been proven to be safe. Widely, the problems I see in pain medicine misuse, are in the misunderstanding of & poor use of pain management practices. It is a medical specialty and I believe too few physicians truly understand how pain medicine should be used! There are many medical and other products that are safe when used as directed. But casting a restrictive new blanket policy over a class of otherwise safe medications because some physicians lack expertise in pain management, or because “the nation” is suffering a health & mental health crisis, is ludicrous! These new restrictions will only compromise the care of user patients, where some will seek to illegal and cross border means to obtain it at a much higher cost, AND where in the remainder, such as myself, there will be a compromise and deterioration of the care. I earlier worked on a shunt device safety issue with Public Citizen in 1996, and upon their urging petitioned (and later prevailed) FDA on widespread safety issues with CNS anti-siphon shunts. In the years since, I have repeatedly called on the FDA for new postmarket surveillance and other actions on behalf of the disorder, hydrocephalus, and CNS shunt technology, but my requests have fallen on deaf ears. My latest CNS shunt implanted last November, has already been recalled. I no longer have any relationship with Public Citizen, in part because they never took any interest in the widespread criminal failures in the field, and I felt they’d become too political. Their misguided activism in this hydrocodone bill only solidifies my concerns. Now my bigger concern is, WHAT’s NEXT? We already have massive problems with drugs, devices, and authorization of medical tests. How will this new philosophy, where a 3rd party group with no connection or standing in the care of a patient, champion new restrictions in patient care? This new bill is much bigger than hydrocodone. It’s about one’s access to quality of care, and one’s civil rights to health & happiness as protected under the Constitution! Staggering legislation!