U.S. deaths from opioids more than tripled from 1999-2007 and now surpass deaths from skin cancer, HIV and alcoholic liver disease, according to a BMJ report.
To address the problem, researchers suggested banning commission payments to drug reps for marketing opioids, stiffer monitoring of opioid advertisements and use of real-time electronic prescription databases to prevent overlapping prescriptions.
Researchers also suggested educational outreach programs to help physicians improve opioid prescribing and more research to guide practice. They said evidence on use of opioids to control chronic pain is very limited.
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