National Pain Awareness Month?

I had not heard of this before but apparently September is "National Pain Awareness Month". It shares the month with "National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month". It does not surprise me that they combine the two into the same month, specially since the misinformed information they give out about opiod drugs, chronic pain patients and prescription drug abuse are heavily heavily skewed towards addiction.

Why aren't support groups such as American Pain Society and others, using this designation for the month of September to educate the public about chronic pain? Especially since, depending on which study you believe, there are anywhere from 50 million to 114 million Americans suffering with chronic pain.

Maybe those of us who suffer from chronic pain and also blog or participate in support forums (email groups, posting boards etc.) should spread the word and during September try to educate others through blog posts and facebook "notes" etc. about the reality of chronic pain.