opioid crisis
One of America's biggest pharmacies just announced it will limit opioid prescriptions to 7 days
CVS Pharmacy announced Friday that it will be limiting opioid prescriptions to seven days for certain patients, including those who are new to prescription pain medications, CNN reports. The pharmacy's decision comes as opioid prescriptions have quadrupled since 1999 despite the fact that there has been no significant rise in conditions calling for such medications among American patients.
An estimated 900,000 Americans overdosed in 2015, with over 30,000 of those overdoses fatal and stemming from opioid drugs. Opioids are the leading cause of unintentional death in the United States. STAT estimated earlier this year that opioids could kill nearly 500,000 Americans in the next decade.
CVS pharmacists also plan to teach patients about the risk of addiction that comes with the pain medications, and insist on the importance of keeping the drugs somewhere secure. "With a presence in nearly 10,000 communities across the country, we see firsthand the impact of the alarming and rapidly growing epidemic of opioid addiction and misuse," said CVS Health's president and CEO, Larry J. Merlo.
The pharmacy will roll out the changes beginning Feb. 1, 2018.