The misuse of opioids, a therapeutic class of narcotic medications for pain, presents a significant risk to patient life and safety. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 33,000 Americans died in 2015 - about 91 people per day - from prescription and illicit opioid overdoses. The 27 national organizations of NCC MERP have the common goal of combatting prescription opioid misuse, abuse, diversion, and overdose. Each member organization has been tackling the opioid crisis from its own perspective. This webpage provides an access point to toolkits, policy statements, educational materials, and other resources for organizations, practitioners, and patients that may aid in the lessening of opioid misuse and abuse.
The resources contained on this page represent the collective work of the Council. In this briskly changing environment, the page will be updated periodically. The format is set to provide resources to
Organizations
- Policy Statements: American Nurses Association and stakeholder policy statements on the opioid epidemic.
Practitioners
- CDC developed and published the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain to provide recommendations for the prescribing of opioid pain medication for patients 18 and older in primary care settings.
- Reducing Opioid Abuse & Misuse: Explore current resources from the AMA Opioid Task Force to help reverse the nation's opioid epidemic.
- VA Pain Management: Recognizing the clinical challenges to successfully managing pain and prescribing safely for our Veterans, the VA/DoD Opioid Safety Initiative (OSI) contains information about clinical guidelines, toolkits, and research resources.
- NAPB PMP InterConnect: NABP PMP InterConnect facilitates the transfer of prescription monitoring program (PMP) data across state lines. It allows participating state PMPs across the United States to be linked, providing a more effective means of combating drug diversion and drug abuse nationwide.
For Patients
- Opioid Medications: FDA has developed a comprehensive action plan to take concrete steps toward reducing the impact of opioid misuse and abuse. The latest information on FDA actions related to opioid medications are highlighted here.
- Safe Use Of Opioids: National Association of Boards of Pharmacy created a resource center to help patient ensure they are taking medications safely.
- Safe Disposal Of Opioids: National Association of Boards of Pharmacy created a resource center to help patient ensure they are storing and disposing of medications safely.
- Legal But Deadly: A growing number of people 50+ are abusing prescription painkillers, sometimes with fatal consequences.
- DoD Makes Prescription Drug Disposal Easy For Beneficiaries: DoD has a new Drug Take Back program that allows for Defense Department health care beneficiaries to safely and easily dispose of expired and unused medications by bringing them to a military treatment facility.
- Stopping Opioid Abuse: An article from PhRMA calling for and supporting national policies and action to address opioid abuse.