The DEA is Lowering Opioid Production in the U.S.: Here ’s How that Might Affect the Opioid Epidemic

The DEA is Lowering Opioid Production in the U.S.: Here’s How that Might Affect the Opioid Epidemic
In the latest federal policy meant to curtail the ongoing opioid epidemic, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced earlier this week that the overall volume of opioid prescriptions permitted in the nation’s pharmaceutical market would decrease by at least 25% in 2017.
The DEA’s new, smaller production quotas will work with the guidelines and regulations other federal agencies are putting in place to combat opioid-based addiction and overdoses. A natural partner in fighting addiction on a national scale, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a series of guidelines for physicians prescribing opiates for chronic pain that highlight the potential for abuse and addiction inherent in the powerful painkillers. By providing physicians with the information they need to appropriately dose and manage opioid prescriptions, the CDC hopes to make doctors think twice before prescribing an opioid at all, and instead use other medications or therapies when appropriate.
But where the CDC’s recommendations were meant to inform doctors’ decision-making process, the DEA’s policy will tangibly reduce the number of prescriptions they can even offer. With less to give out, doctors will be forced to prescribe fewer opioid-based pain killers, making it more difficult to become addicted to opioids or to support an addiction that is already pre...

Source: Cliffside Malibu - October 12, 2016 Category: Addiction Authors: Richard Taite Tags: Richard Taite addiction Addiction Recovery addiction treatment addiction treatment center addicts alcohol alcoholism drug treatment center prescription drug abuse prescription drug addiction substance abuse Source Type: blogs