March 29, 2016 – Opioid Guidelines

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Anchor lead: The CDC has released new guidelines for opioid prescriptions, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Will new opioid prescription guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention help stem the tide of opioid deaths?  Eric Strain, a drug abuse expert at Johns Hopkins, comments.

Strain:  The guidelines can shape practice over time but I don’t think we’re going to see a dramatic change immediately. It’s good to try to shape practice over time, to try to get the pendulum to swing back from the overprescribing that was occurring.  We probably need to see these guidelines as part of a larger picture of interventions that are being done by the government, professional associations, by individual practitioners, to decrease opiate misuse, and opiate overdose deaths.  :30

Strain notes that the guidelines are voluntary, and says perhaps use of the guidelines in conjunction with opioid use monitoring nationally and educational outreach to the public will reduce the sobering death toll related to prescription opioid misuse.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.