Our Efforts Paid Off!

The undisputed result of PHRI and Lealtar’s hard work - must be remembered. In the future, when the Ministry of Health rejects our demands, we will know not to give up. We will remind ourselves that our efforts do pay off.

It isn’t often that organizations get to see a direct link between their efforts and on-the-ground successes. We recently experienced such a moment when the Ministry of Health finally amended its Pharmacists Ordinance, requiring drug companies to warn patients about the dangers of opioid dependence.

This achievement follows a long and difficult struggle. The call to change warning labels on opioid packaging was already included in the recommendations for combating the opioid crisis drafted by Lealtar – The Narcotic Patient Support and Assistance Foundation. The Ministry of Health rejected the proposal, and only after we petitioned the High Court along with Lealtar was it eventually forced to comply.

The fact that such pressure was ever required detracts from our capacity to celebrate this accomplishment. We are all too aware of the lost human lives and the suffering countless patients and their families have endured. We also remember that this is but one step in a much longer process of ending the opioid crisis.

It would be naïve to believe that the Ministry of Health is free of unwelcome interests and pressures from the pharmaceutical industry. How else can one explain why opioids continue to be prescribed for chronic pain despite their devastating harm and lack of efficacy? It would also be naïve to believe that the state will now suddenly provide patients with adequate rehabilitation services.

It is even more naïve to believe that this appalling crisis, caused by drug companies, would be reason enough for the Israeli health system and medical community to detach from the economic umbilical cord of the pharmaceutical industry – and demand ethical and research independence.

Therefore, this achievement – the undisputed result of PHRI and Lealtar’s hard work – must be remembered. In the future, when the Ministry of Health rejects our demands, we will know not to give up. We will remind ourselves that our efforts do pay off.

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