CDC Proposes New Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids, Dropping Specific Dosage Recommendations

CDC Proposes New Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids, Dropping Specific Dosage Recommendations
Tablets of opioid painkiller Oxycodon delivered on medical prescription. Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images
Updated:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has proposed new opioid prescribing guidelines that will drop its prior recommendation of specific limits on doses of opioid painkillers when treating chronic pain patients, among other changes.

The proposed update seeks to amend the CDC’s current guideline for prescribing opioids, issued in 2016, which had sparked a dramatic decline in pain pill prescriptions across the United States, but drew criticism from chronic pain sufferers, who contended they were being denied much needed pain relief.

Related Topics