It may be hard to swallow, but 24.6 million people — that’s 9.4 percent of the American population 12 years of age and older — are living with “substance dependence or abuse” in 2015, according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM).
On Monday, December 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Infection (CDC) announced its new proposed guidelines providing recommendations for the prescribing of opioid pain medication for patients 18 and older in primary care settings, calling for a more conservative approach to treatment of pain.
The agency did this because after thorough research, it found the existing guidelines vary in the recommendations, and primary care providers say they receive insufficient training in prescribing opioid pain relievers. It is important that a patient receive the appropriate pain treatment, and it’s equally important that the benefits and risks of treatment be carefully considered.
Perhaps sadly, the bold effort to get a handle on the number of fatal drug overdoses in this country met with stiff opposition this week from drug companies, industry-funded groups and some public health officials. Instead of being on track to finalize the guidelines in January 2016, the CDC decided to open the guidelines to public comment for 30 days and possibly additional changes.
Critics say the guidelines go too far and were written behind closed doors. Earlier this month at a meeting of pain experts, officials from the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) went so far as to bash the guidelines, calling them “shortsighted,” and suggesting the CDC relied on “low-quality evidence.” The FDA group said they planned to file a “formal complaint.”
The Draft CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opiates for Chronic Pain is available on the CDC website. To post a comment, click the blue box that reads “Public Comment.” Follow the directions.
“What we want is to just make sure that doctors understand that starting a patient on an opiate is a momentous decision,” said CDC director Tom Frieden. “The risks are addiction and death, and the benefits are unproven.”