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Editorial
April 19, 2016

The CDC Guideline on Opioid Prescribing: Rising to the Challenge

Author Affiliations
  • 1Institutes for Behavior Resources Inc, Baltimore, Maryland
JAMA. 2016;315(15):1577-1579. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.1910

In 2014, nearly 20 000 deaths due to overdose of prescription opioids occurred in the United States.1 That same year, more than 10 million people in the United States reported using prescription opioids for nonmedical reasons, and close to 2 million people older than 12 years met diagnostic criteria for a substance use disorder involving prescription opioids.2 This is the highest number of individuals considered to have opioid addiction since statistics began to be collected in the late 19th century.3 Four of 5 persons newly initiating heroin use now report starting with a prescription opioid, a near complete reversal since prior to 2000.4 Despite multiple, laudable efforts across the country aimed at curbing the opioid epidemic, there seems to be little relief in sight.

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