Patients Prescribed Narcotic Painkillers Use More of Them for Longer, Study Finds - NYTimes.com

While a major public health campaign has had some success in reducing the number of people who take potentially addictive narcotic painkillers, those patients who are prescribed the drugs are getting more of them for a longer time, according to a new study.

Nearly half the people who took the painkillers for over 30 days in the study's first year were still using them three years later, a sign of potential abuse.

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