Attempting to manage addiction through prescription practices, at least as it is currently done, caused the "opioid crisis", and apparently will continue to be the bureaucratic response to that crisis...
If a patient has a nonfatal opioid overdose, it should be a warning sign and an opportunity to identify and treat any substance use disorders; but there is little information about treatment patterns after the overdose.
Researchers used information from Optum, a large national commercial insurance claims database with data on 50 million individuals over a 12-year period, to identify nearly 3,000 patients who experienced a nonfatal overdose while taking opioids prescribed for chronic pain.
The data showed that, following the overdose, prescription of opioids continued for 91% of patients. In addition, 70% of patients received prescriptions from the same provider who prescribed the opioids before their initial overdose.
Then, 2 years later, patients who continued taking high dosages of opioids were twice as likely to have another overdose, compared with those who stopped using opioids after the overdose.