I am writing as a CPP (chronic pain patient) and a Republican that voted proudly for Youngkin!! The DEA and DOJ have caused absolute destruction for my CPP community by putting our providers in jail, cutting back on the manufacturing of our FDA approved medications and left us for dead. I am currently waiting for my new Pain Management appointment to occur this week and the medical PTSD and anxiety has already taken over my life! I have been using Kratom for about 2 months now (been without my prescription medications since February) and it has given me the ability to manage my life as a wife, mother and small business owner. To be clear, I do not consume Kratom daily and when I’m having a flare up (several diagnosed issues in lumbar spine) I don’t use Kratom as it does not help my pain. Without Kratom, I would not have been able to have a quality of life for the past few months while I’ve been without my FDA approved opioid pain medication. There are several days that I am unable to get out of bed, unable to eat and question why at 42 years old, this is my life now. Nobody fights for us, nobody cares about us! We are punished because of the illicit Fentanyl crisis!! CPP’s are not overdosing/dying and we are not abusing our meds!! We would not go through the biased and judgmental provider appointments to increase our medical PTSD to abuse our meds!! Please - hear us and LISTEN!! Don’t punish our pain even more!! Thank you!