After a Crackdown on a Pain Clinic, a Tragic Double Suicide by Jeffrey A. Singer, practices general surgery in Phoenix, Arizona SOURCE: Reason.com

• "The flawed 2016 guideline remains the basis of the prescribing laws in most states. Doctors face losing their licenses or, worse, jail time if they violate these laws." 
• there is no legal definition of "overprescribing" 
• Meanwhile, opioid-related overdose deaths reached a record high in 2021, exceeding 71,000, 89 percent of which involved illicit fentanyl. 
• Despite a dramatic drop in opioid prescribing, deaths have soared.
• According to government data, addiction to prescription pain relievers has been relatively stable at under one percent in this century. 
• Chronic pain patients rarely become addicted to opioids.