The Hill News

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report about “the epidemic” of overdoses involving prescription opioid pain medicines (strong pain medicines like morphine, including oxycodone, hydrocodone, and others).  The report blames rampant overprescribing by doctors and other professionals for the sharp uptick in deaths related to opioid abuse, leading the CDC to propose various solutions aimed primarily at reducing the supply of these medications.  In reality, if Americans want to know where these misused medications are coming from, they need to look in the mirror â€" or more accurately the medicine cabinet behind the mirror.
 
In its report, CDC states that that 14,800 people died of overdoses in which prescription opioid pain medicines were present, an increase from about 4000 such cases in 1999.  The CDC then argues that because this increase in deaths occurred while sales of these drugs increased, one caused the oth! er.  This is an easy conclusion to leap to â€" and one that the CDC has focused on in the past â€" but it doesn’t make that conclusion right.  And what’s even more dangerous is proposing new policy based on unproven conclusions.

Read more...