Can the Damage Done by the CDC's Opioid Guidelines Be Reversed?
The agency’s acknowledgment of the suffering caused by its prescribing advice may be too little, too late.
Pain treatment
The Authors of the CDC's Opioid Prescribing Advice Say It Has Been 'Misimplemented' in a Way That Hurts Patients
The CDC decries abrupt, involuntary dose reductions and patient abandonment without acknowledging its responsibility for those unintended but foreseeable consequences.
Seeking to Clarify Its Opioid Prescribing Guidelines, CDC Joins FDA in Decrying 'Mandated or Abrupt Dose Reduction'
The CDC's advice has been widely interpreted as requiring involuntary tapering of medication so it does not exceed an arbitrary threshold.
Kirsten Gillibrand Says Her Limit on Opioid Prescriptions 'Is Not Intended to Interfere With These Decisions'
If the senator really believed "all health care should be between doctors and patients," she would not be proposing a one-size-fits-all rule for pain treatment.
Experts Urge CDC to Clarify Prescribing Guidelines That Are Hurting Pain Patients
The agency's opioid advice has led to arbitrary dose reductions, denial of care, senseless suffering, and suicide.
Are You More Likely to Be Killed by Opioids Than a Car Crash?
Only if you are using heroin, fentanyl, or dangerous drug mixtures
Punishing Patients Won't Reduce Opioid Deaths
A new Medicare prescription rule will aggravate undertreatment of pain.
Opioid-Related Deaths Keep Rising As Pain Pill Prescriptions Fall
The crackdown on analgesics continues to push nonmedical users toward deadlier alternatives.
AMA Decries the Impact of the CDC's Opioid Guidelines on Pain Treatment
The physician group says widespread "misapplication" of the guidelines is hurting patients.
Trump Says Pain Pills Are 'So Highly Addictive.' He's Wrong.
The president wants to sue pharmaceutical companies for telling the truth about the addictive potential of their products.
Nan Goldin's Misleading OxyContin Story Feeds the Myth of 'Highly Addictive' Pain Pills
Like most people who become addicted to prescription opioids, the famous photographer had a history of substance abuse.
This Is Your Hand on Opioids: Trump's 'Very Bad Commercials' Rely on Dishonest and Pernicious Scare Tactics
The anti-drug ads exaggerate the risk of addiction and falsely portray pain treatment as a highway to hell.
AMA Castigated for Rightly Opposing a National 3-Day Limit on Opioid Prescriptions
The doctors' lobby is right that the arbitrary rule is medically unsound and misconstrues the CDC's guidelines.
Nevada Records Show 'Opioid-Related' Deaths Usually Involve Illicit Drugs or Mixtures
Deaths attributed solely to pain pills are rare in Clark County.
FDA Head Acknowledges Suffering Caused by Opioid Crackdown
Scott Gottlieb announces a public meeting focused on the concerns of chronic pain patients.
Opioid Death Rates Are Not Correlated With Prescription Rates Across States
More reason to doubt that pain pill restrictions will save lives
Walmart's 7-Day Opioid Prescription Limit Is Medically Unsound and Could Backfire
Like state legislators, the chain is taking its cue from the CDC's guidelines.
The Lethal Success of Pain Pill Restrictions
A new study provides more evidence that the opioid crackdown is driving people toward deadlier drugs.
The New York Times Suggests Opioids Should Be Reserved for Terminal Patients
An editorial calling for further restrictions on pain pills grossly exaggerates their dangers.
As Opioid Prescriptions Fall, Opioid Deaths Rise
The latest data underline the folly of tackling the "opioid crisis" by restricting access to pain pills.
Medicare Agency Retreats From Arbitrary Limit on Pain Medication
Under the final rule, pharmacists may fill high-dose opioid prescriptions as long as they verify them.
New Medicare Rule Promises Needless Suffering for Pain Patients
Taking a cue from the CDC, the proposed regulation imposes an arbitrary cap on opioid prescriptions.
Nan Goldin's Back Story Complicates Her Anti-Opioid Narrative of Accidental Addiction
The photographer's long history of substance abuse predates her OxyContin prescription by more than four decades.
Does That JAMA Study Really Show That Advil Is Just As Effective As Opioids?
Since responses to pain treatment vary widely, it is hazardous to draw broad conclusions from a single study.
America's War on Pain Pills Is Killing Addicts and Leaving Patients in Agony
The government's efforts to get between people and the drugs they want have not prevented drug use, but they have made it more dangerous.
Jeff Sessions' Cruel Prescription for Pain
The attorney general does not seem to understand how the drive to minimize opioid use hurts innocent people.
Jeff Sessions' Advice to Pain Patients: 'Take Some Aspirin' and 'Tough It Out'
The attorney general thinks people should suffer needlessly, just like John Kelly.
Study of Postsurgical Patients Shows Addiction to Pain Pills Is Rare
While the risk of "opioid misuse" increased with the duration of the prescription, the overall rate was low.