Doctors reject claim that US “no longer has a prescription opioid driven epidemic”

A group of US doctors that advocates for more cautious opioid prescribing has rebutted the claim from the American Medical Association (AMA) that the country “no longer has a prescription opioid driven epidemic” and condemned its call to remove “restrictions on controlled substances.”

Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP), a group of 17 doctors, researchers, and patient advocates, wrote to Susan Bailey, president of the AMA, on 16 February expressing disappointment that the association seemed to “fight key elements of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s [CDC’s] effort to address the scourge of overprescribing of opioids.”1

The group referred to comments made by the AMA in …