Syringes, pills and prescription bottles The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimatethat more than 130 Americans die after overdosing on opioids,mostly heroin and illicitly distributed versions of fentanyl.(Photo: Shutterstock)

A new report from the AMA Opioid Task Force finds that for thefifth year in a row, not just the number of prescriptions but also therecommended dosage for opioids has fallen. And while there's moreto do, doctors are pushing lawmakers to take additional action,such as removing barriers to treatment.

So says a report from the American Medical Association,which highlighted some of the results from the task force's data.The number of prescriptions for opioids, for instance, dropped bymore than 80 million, or 33 percent nationally, in the periodbetween 2013 and 2018. Just between 2017 and 2018, opioidprescriptions fell by 12.4 percent—20 million fewer.

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Marlene Satter

Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.

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