The American Medical Association Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force continues to advance evidence-based recommendations for policymakers and physicians to help end the nation’s drug-related overdose and death epidemic. Physicians’ positive actions, however, are limited by an insufficient focus on meaningful policy implementation and enforcement to support affordable, accessible, evidence-based care for patients with a substance use disorder, pain, or access to harm reduction services such as naloxone, syringe services programs and fentanyl test strips.
We urge all stakeholders to come together to help reverse this national epidemic.