opioid prescribing guidelines

With rising awareness of opioid abuse, some pain patients say doctors are less likely to prescribe them. One Montana sufferer goes to great lengths to get his prescription — he flies to California.

Congress approved an amalgam of more than a dozen proposals that will expand access to medication-assisted treatment. It also will encourage police to send drug users to treatment rather than to jail.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Debra Houry, director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about new opioid guidelines.