A record 540 U.S. Pain members have sent 2,010 letters to their representatives through an online campaign to support the Opioids and STOP Pain Initiative Act. The bill would allocate $5 billion over 5 years toward developing new treatments for both chronic pain and substance use disorders. Pain has traditionally been grossly underfunded relative to its enormous impact.

“This is a very promising piece of pain legislation,” says Cindy Steinberg, national director of Policy and Advocacy. “The persistent underfunding of pain research relative to its burden means that we have very few effective and safe options of treating chronic pain.”

Steinberg says that last week’s passage of the omnibus spending bill, which allots $250 million to pain research, is a very hopeful development.

Participating inthe online campaign takes just a few moments to do; U.S. Pain encourages those who have already participated to share the link with friends and family. To learn more about the Opioids and STOP Pain Initiative Act, click here.