The CDC Guideline on Opioid Prescribing: Rising to the Challenge

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.