Consistent with other reports we have made the American Medical Association has released a report showing a 44% decrease in opiate prescribing over the past 10 years with a 6.9% decrease from 2019-2020 alone.  However, at the same time, “deaths of despair” continue to rise as a worsening drug overdose and death epidemic from illicit opiates laced with fentanyl continues to rage in the United States.