Recipe for disaster? CDC LOWERS opioid prescribing rules as ‘patients struggle to access them’
US health chiefs have dropped advice to limit opioid prescriptions to three days
They will also say that patients on high doses should not have them cut abruptly
Campaigners had labeled the previous directive as ‘problematic’
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Strict rules limiting the prescription of opioids have been relaxed today in what appears to be a major turnaround.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued rules in 2016 to curb unnecessary and “dangerous” prescriptions.
But many doctors say the curbs have caused “significant damage” to patients and are unable to access the medication they need.
The agency today rowed back on the guidelines, claiming they should never be construed as law.
Campaigners said they “applaud” the agency’s decision, which the shift would help “curb the unintended consequences of the past.”
It is estimated that approximately 40 million American adults, or 17.6 percent, suffer from severe pain every year.
The number of opioid prescriptions quadrupled in the United States between 1999 and 2010.
Alaska is predicted to have the largest increase in overdose deaths, at 43.82 percent (burgundy). It was the only US state with an increase of 40 percent or more. Eight states have forecast declines between April 2021 and April 2022
The chart above shows the CDC estimates for the number of drug overdose deaths in the United States each year. It reveals that the numbers have now reached an all-time high and are rising for the last three years
Opioid painkillers can be addictive — even when used with a prescription — and were identified in the 2000s as a leading cause of the U.S. opioid epidemic.
But in recent years they have been overtaken by illegal substances such as fentanyl, while drug fatalities have risen to an all-time high.
At the same time, the number of opioid prescriptions dropped from 225 million per year in 2012 to 142 million eight years later.
CDC officials said today that their new guidelines provide “compassionate” and “safe” care for those suffering from pain.
They quash advice that limits prescribing opioids for acute pain to three days.
And they say that patients on higher doses should not see their courses ‘abruptly stopped’ by doctors, but rather taper them off gradually.
They also dropped a limit and advised doctors not to increase opioid doses to levels equivalent to 90 milligrams of morphine per day.
They are also now recommending that those receiving higher doses of opioids not have them stopped abruptly.
Instead, they say these patients should be weaned off the drugs gradually.
They released a draft of the updated guidelines in February and received more than 5,500 responses from both patients and clinicians.
Last year, the American Medical Association urged the agency to scrap the 2016 guidelines.