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NEW YORK - Attorney General Letitia James is calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to adopt new guidelines for prescribing opioids.
In a letter to the CDC, James urged the agency to update its guidelines for physicians to help improve pain management and reduce opioid-related harms in communities throughout the country.
"I am proud to lead New York in the fight to hold opioid manufacturers and distributors accountable for the harm they've inflicted on our communities, but we must also tackle the root of the issue and where it all begins -- with the over-prescription of opioids," James said. "We know that opioids are highly addictive and dangerous, yet some doctors continue to prescribe the medication without reserve, costing us countless lives. We need clear and comprehensive prescribing guidelines for doctors so that our nation can finally decrease its dependence on opioid pain medications."
The CDC reported that, in 2021, opioid overdose deaths rose by nearly 20,000, marking a record high 75,000 lives lost. In New York alone, more than 4,200 people died from opioid overdoses between October 2020 and October 2021.
To combat these trends, James recommends the CDC include the following measures in its official guidelines:
¯ Develop specific thresholds for assessing the risks of opioids, including;
¯ Clearly warning prescribers to exercise caution when increasing an opioid dosage beyond 50 mg;
¯ Advising prescribers to offer naloxone, the overdose-reversal drug, to all patients taking at least 50 mg of opiates per day;
¯ Directing doctors to review their patients' prescription drug monitoring program data at least every three months.
¯ Encourage the use of non-opioid pain therapies and ensure healthcare coverage by insurers.
¯ Publicly recognize the limited evidence to support the usefulness of opioids for the treatment of chronic pain.
¯ Publicly acknowledge that pain is undertreated and untreated in women and people of color and encourage prescribers to address potential biases in clinical decision-making.