The AMA Opioid Task Force 2020 Report Should Come as No Surprise to Those Who Follow the Data

Jeffrey A. SingerThe American Medical Association recently released itOpioid Task Force 2020 Report. The Task Force found there was a 37.1 percent decrease in opioid prescriptions between 2014 and 2019; a 64.4 percent increase in the use of state prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) in the last year (739 million queries in 2019); and hundreds of thousands of physicians accessing continuing medical education courses on opioid prescribing (now mandatory in some states). However, the report states:Despite these efforts, illicitly manufactured fentanyl, fentanyl analogues and stimulants (e.g. methamphetamine, cocaine) are now killing more Americans than ever. The use of these illicit drugs has surged and their overdose rate increased by 10.1% and 10.8%, respectively.This should come as no surprise. The government ’s own data showno correlation between opioid prescription volume and past month nonmedical use of prescription opioids by persons age 12 an up. Nor does it find a correlation between prescription volume and past year diagnosis with prescription opioid use disorder in person age 12 and up.The Task Force walks up to but doesn ’t cross over the line to abandon the false narrative that the overdose crisis was caused by doctors “overprescribing” pain medication to their patients. Yet researchers at theUniversity of Pittsburgh reported in 2018 that overdoses from the nonmedical use of licit and illicit drugs have been increasing steadily a...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs