Why Is NPR Still Obsessing Over Prescription Numbers When They Are Not Associated With Non ‐​medical Use or Addiction?

Jeffrey A. SingerNational Public Radio released aninvestigative report today showing that doctors and dentists are still prescribing opioids for pain management at “rates widely considered unsafe.”This persistent focus on the number of pills doctors prescribe defies justification in light of the fact that data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health consistently revealno association between prescription volume and the non ‐​medical use of prescription opioids or addiction.And despite the overall prescription volume coming down dramatically since 2012 (the year the volume peaked), overdose rates continue to climb. In fact, the overdose rateclimbed as prescription rates came down. We learned this week that overdoses in 2019are up considerably over the previous year and the situation this year is exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis.Meanwhile, what prescription amounts that are “widely considered safe” is a matter for debate. The CDC in 2019 issued a memo claiming policymakers were misapplying and misinterpreting the opioid prescribing guidelines they published in 2016, and reminded policymakers that they were meant to be suggestive, not prescriptive. Around the same time a Department of Health and Human Services Pain Management Best Practices Inter ‐​Agency Task Force issued a report calling for the individualization of pain management practices, deferring to practit...

Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 17, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs