Consumers Abusing Opioid & Alternative Prescriptions For Chronic Pain

About half of controlled substance monitoring tests indicate that consumers taking opioids for chronic pain management are not taking the medications as prescribed. Nearly 75% of primary care physicians (PCPs) who prescribe opioids for these consumers trust that the pain management medications will be taken properly. Additionally, about 78% of PCPs said they often prescribe gabapentin (a non-controlled substance) as an alternative to opioids for chronic pain. Laboratory tests indicated that misuse of non-prescribed gabapentin increased by 40% between 2018 and 2019.

These findings were reported in “Drug Misuse in America 2019: Physician Perspectives and Diagnostic Insights on . . .