According to the CDC, “Health care providers in the highest prescribing state, Alabama, wrote almost three times as many [opioid] prescriptions per person as those in the lowest prescribing state, Hawaii” without a health-based explanation for the difference (2016). Many states restrict the prescribing ability of nurse practitioners to exclude opioid medications. However, allowing nurse practitioners to become involved in helping to manage patients with chronic or acute pain could actually help to reduce the instances of opioid abuse. Nurse practitioners, when compared to physicians in areas of health care quality, safety, and effectiveness, had “comparable or better outcomes” (Stanik-Hutt, Newhouse, White, Johantgen, Bass, Zangaro, &...Weiner, 2013). By allowing nurse practitioners to become more actively involved in the care of these patients, we can improve patient education and strive to achieve better pain control with less addictive substances.…