"The bottom line is, we still have too many people getting too many opioid prescriptions for too many days at too high a dosage," said acting CDC Director Dr. Anne Schuchat. Prescription opioid-related overdose deaths and treatment of opioid use disorder have trended similarly to the increase in opioid prescriptions, which quadrupled from 1999 to 2010. It found that the top prescribing counties had nearly six times the number of prescriptions as those with the lowest rates of prescriptions. "Opioid prescribing varies as much from place to place as the weather, and even neighboring counties have major differences in prescribing levels," Schuchat said. Separately, some states -- Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York and Maine -- have adopted legislation that limits opioid prescriptions to seven days.

Source: CNN July 06, 2017 22:52 UTC