Doctors Call For Pullback On Narcotics For Chronic Pain

Doctors Call For Pullback On Narcotics For Chronic Pain Enlarge this image toggle caption Sue Ogrocki/AP Sue Ogrocki/AP In a bracing call to action, three doctors from California are telling their peers to think twice before prescribing potent narcotics for patients with chronic pain. Sponsor Message "Unfortuantely, the use of prescription opioids currently results in more deaths in the United States due to intoxication than heroin and cocaine combined," says Dr. Mitchell H. Katz, a co-author of editorial, in a podcast. Until there's more scientific evidence, doctors "should not continue to prescribe high-dose opioids" for chronic non-cancer pain. To some patients, doctors may need to give a sobering message, Katz says in the podcast: "This is not something I'm going to be able to completely take away."