In a March 22 opinion column in the New York Times entitled "The DEA Needs to Stay Out of Medicine," Vanderbilt University Medical Center associate professor of anesthesiology and pain management Shravani Durbhakula, MD, documents powerfully how patients suffering from severe pain--many of them terminal cancer patients--have become collateral casualties in the government's war on drugs. Decrying the Drug Enforcement Administration's progressive tightening of opioid manufacturing quotas, Dr. Durbhakula writes: In theory, fewer opioids sold means fewer inappropriate scripts filled, which should curb the diversion of prescription opioids for illicit purposes and decrease overdose deaths -- right? I can tell you from the front lines that that's not quite right. Prescription opioids once drove the opioid crisis. But in recent years opioid prescriptions have significantly fallen, while overdose deaths have been at a record high. America's new wave of fatalities is largely a result of the illicit market, specifically illicit fentanyl. And as production cuts contribute to the reduction of the already strained supply of legal, regulated prescription opioids, drug shortages stand to affect the more than 50 million people suffering from chronic pain in more ways than at the pharmacy counter.
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