Opioid addiction and the illness and death associated with the misuse of these drugs is a growing health crisis.
Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made headlines with news that 2021 saw an unprecedented number of overdose deaths from opioid use.  
Although these drugs can offer relief for people with chronic pain or who have experienced surgery, they do come with risks, particularly opioid use disorder (OUD)—the chronic use of opioids that causes “clinically significant” distress or impairment, including dependence and even addiction to opioids.
However, only brief use or abruptly stopping opioid use might not solve the problem. Are there better ways to prevent issues related to opioid use and can we avoid using these drugs at all?…