As usual it is the medical profession that is being blamed for the increased opioid deaths....the emphasis on the illegal importation of hyperpotent opioids has not been strong enough...they are flooding into the country, ordered on line,  they are entering the country undetected.

There is now a narcoticphobia occurring within the medical profession, it will get harder and harder for genuinely needy patients to get their painkillers from their practitioners....even more so as the new guidelines get imposed...tapering will be accelerated and they will be dumped, many will,  point blank , refuse to prescribe them.

Their usage will not go down, if they cannot be obtained  via the official route, then they will be obtained via the unofficial, illegal route.

One can anticipated that those requiring painkillers will increasingly turn to the illegally imported Chinese narcotics of uneven potency with increased mortality no matter how many  opioid overdose strategy teams are employed.