Opioid Overdose Epidemic: A Case Study

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The CDC states that the over prescription of opioids a key driver of the country drug overdose epidemic. The CDC recommends doctors treating chronic pain, use non-opioids or nonpharmacologic medication. However, if it necessary to prescribe opioids doctors need to make sure that the benefits if pain and functional improvement outweigh the risk, establish treatment goals, discuss the risks and benefits, always use the lowest effective dose. in 2014 over 200 million prescription adopts were given to patients (CBS This Morning, 2016). 40 people died every day as a result of opioid overdose (CBS This Morning, 2016). in the 80s it was felt as though doctors were not doing much to treat pain so to become more aggressive, doctors began to prescribe

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