Reducing Opioid Medications for Patients Does Not Reduce Overdoses

Alliance Offers Patient-Centered Opioid Prescribing Recommendations

June 13, 2018

Advocacy group describes why CDC Guidelines on Opioid Prescribing should be withdrawn and rewritten.

4. There is no evidence that the restriction of opioid medications for patients reduces overdose deaths. To the contrary, it is clear that reformulation of OxyContin in 2010 to reduce its abuse potential was accompanied by a sustained increase in overdose deaths involving heroin and other street drugs. 

There is also research to demonstrate that the restriction of prescription opioids since that time period may actually be contributing to the opioid crisis by driving patients in desperate pain toward illicit drugs for relief. 

The US Drug Enforcement Administration has recommended further reduction of production quotas for scheduled drugs found to be “subject to diversion.” However, prescribing levels are presently at a 10-year low and hospitals across the country are experiencing shortages of opioid analgesics needed in surgery. The DEA should end these restrictions.

READ The Recommendations Here