AMA (American Medical Association) has been vocal about their view of the 2016 CDC Opioid Prescribing Guidelines and the changes they feel are necessary. On September 21, 2021, AMA released a report showing that while there has been a 44.4% decrease in opioid prescribing, the drug overdose epidemic has never been worse. The press release for the new report can be found here. The report also discusses how as PDMP use has greatly increased, overdoses and deaths skyrocketed.  Does that mean the PDMP actually increases deaths?  It's possible. This issue is discussed further in this Reason article by policy analyst, Jacob James Rich. The DOJ has put hundreds of millions of dollars into funding the PDMP. Will they stop funding the PDMP since the results are definitely less than impressive? Doubtful, but we'll see. Contrary to what anti-opioid zealots like Andrew Kolodny from PROP and Gary Mendell from Shatterproof want people to believe, AMA President Gerald E. Harmon, M.D. said “The nation’s drug overdose and death epidemic has never just been about prescription opioids.” 

The AMA goes on to list some actions policy makers can take to effect change. “With record-breaking numbers of overdose deaths across the country, these are actions policymakers and other stakeholders must take,” Dr. Harmon, The AMA president said. “The medical community will continue to play its part, and overall, the focus of our national efforts must shift. Until further action is taken, we are doing a great injustice to our patients with pain, those with a mental illness and those with a substance use disorder.”  Watch this recent AMA video, where the chair of the Pain Care Task Force discusses why the AMA believes the more accurate name for the crisis  is "overdose and death epidemic" instead of "opioid epidemic."