Opioid Abuse Guidelines

“Prevention and Intervention Strategies to Decrease Misuse of Prescription Pain Medications,” one of 18 new policy statements adopted during the American Public Health Association’s Annual Meeting and Exposition last month, includes recommendations advocating the use of nondrug complementary and integrative therapies. APHA Policy 20154 “urges public health and public policy education programs to prioritize and implement evidence-based community and provider training programs on mental health, non-pharmacological pain treatment alternatives, substance abuse and overdose prevention”; while a second resolution “urges prescription providers to be educated on identifying and treating pain with alternative modalities, and to coordinate pain management with complementary and integrative care providers.”