Sarasota, FL, November 21, 2017 — After decades as a New York District Attorney and family court judge, James Punch understands that opioid addiction is a tragic example of the dose making the poison. This is why he endorses a joint project by ROBRADY design and Joe Bujalski to prevent misuse of prescription opioids. The PILL, a smart dispenser, is designed to stop the problem before it starts.
“Design thinking provides a solution that doesn’t sacrifice the benefits of responsible opioid use,” notes ROBRADY CEO and Design Director Rob Brady. “And the support of James Punch, who has seen opioids’ power to help and hurt, is a powerful endorsement.”
To learn more about the PILL project, click here.
To Whom It May Concern:
For the past 27 years, I have served as a county and family court judge. For 5 years prior to that, I served as our district attorney. I am now retired. In those years, I saw the development of our current opioid epidemic. I would not have thought that anyone needs to be convinced of the severity of this problem in today's age of information. However, there seems to be a lack of governmental and societal commitment to stopping the crisis, so I will add my voice to those crying out for a solution.
I doubt there is anyone left in the United States who hasn't been impacted by the death and destruction caused by these drugs. I have seen so many lives lost that it is almost numbing. A promising young attorney who had practiced in my court recently left 4 young children and a wife behind. People who work, pray and live in this community have given up their lives to these drugs. There is no class, economic or age barrier to their spread. They often defeat good parents who lose their children.
I have also seen a dramatic increase in suicides by people who are addicted to these drugs. These deaths aren't even reflected in the already shocking statistics showing the toll of opioids.
The first step on the path of destruction for so many of them was taken hand in hand with a prescribing physician; the unintended consequences of a compassionate doctor's efforts to alleviate a patient's pain. These are amazing drugs when used carefully. My own journey though cancer was made far more bearable because of them. We should not outlaw them. But we can no longer feel innocent and compassionate when our system blythly hands a person a full bottle of potentially deadly pills. We have an obligation to use our ingenuity and our resources to find a way to prescribe this medication in a way that is responsible.
I have reviewed the technology proposed by the ROBRADY group, and I believe it to be the most responsible way possible for these drugs to be dispensed. It will help to stop overdoses, sharing of the drugs and street sales of them. I hope you will consider embracing it. I am not connected in any way to this company; I have not and will not accept any compensation for my efforts to help. I am doing this because I feel it would be immoral to ignore this technology.
There is a move afoot by district attorneys associations to make illegal drug dealers responsible for the deaths caused by the drugs they sell. How less morally culpable are we if we don't do everything we can to limit the destruction caused by the legal distribution of these drugs?
James Punch
Hon. James Punch, Former NY District Attorney and Family Court Judge