Opioid Abuse: What Providers Can Do

​In 2012, more than 259 million prescriptions for opioids were written in the United States, representing "enough for every American adult to have their own bottle of pills," according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH, commenting on a new CDC report. The report found that the United States surpasses every other nation in per capita opioid consumption, with twice as many prescriptions for painkillers than the second-ranked country, Canada.