Checking the Accuracy of a Story

In a recent Washington Post story, “Are restrictions on opioids a threat to human rights?,” Charles Lane states that the wave of prescription opioid overdoses has crested thanks to public policy changes including the 2016 CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain.

Actually, opioid prescribing and overdoses essentially peaked four years before the CDC guidelines were introduced. According to a recent report from the CDC, the rate of opioids prescribed is lower than at any time in the past 10 years. The peak occurred in 2010.