In March 2016, the CDC published guidelines for reducing the use of prescribed Opioids for reducing pain. The goal was to reduce the abuse of Opioids and reduce addictions and overdose deaths. I remember thinking that it was a shame to restrict the drug for those who need it in order to protect the few abusing it.
Did it work? Yes, the use of prescribed Opioids dropped dramatically and deaths from prescribed Opioids are lower than in 2016. Last year when I had surgery, I was prescribed five Oxycodone pills. If I needed more, I had to return to the doctor who would hand me a written prescription that I would hand-carry to the pharmacy. Instead, I lived on Tylenol.
Since deaths from prescribed Opioids are down, the crisis in drug overdose deaths is over. Right? Wrong! The deaths from overdoses exploded from about 20,000 in 2016 to about 92,000 in 2020 and over 100,000 deaths from April 2020 to April 2021. It seems people turned to Fentanyl which is synthesized in illegal labs, mostly in other countries, and smuggled into the United States.
Would hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths be saved if the CDC hadn’t recommended restricting the use of prescribed Opioids? Would people still choose Fentanyl even if prescribed Opioids were readily available?
I’m no expert. I’m just puzzled.,
Source of information https://nida.nih.gov/sites/default/files/National_Drug_Involved_Overdose_Deaths_1999-2020.pptx
Seasoned Man
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