ArticleSubstance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy2022
"The DEA would come in and destroy you": a qualitative study of fear and unintended consequences among opioid prescribers in WV.
Article in Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of schedule V controlled substance classification of gabapentin on adult gabapentin-involved overdose rates, West Virginia, 2016-2019: A controlled time series analysis.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2026Article
- Decreased Gabapentin Prescription Fills Among Medicaid Enrollees Following State-Level Schedule V Controlled Substance Classification in Kentucky and West Virginia.Substance use & addiction journal · 2026Article
- Article
- Factors influencing optimal postoperative pain management: a systematic scoping review.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Trends in Outpatient Opioid Prescriptions for Cancer Pain Between 2016 and 2021.JCO oncology practice · 2025Article
- Reducing stigma in primary care toward people who use drugs: A pilot study exploring the promise and limits of stigma training.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2025Article
- Opiophobia: Misinformation, Misconceptions, Misrepresentations, Perspectives, and Consequences.ACS pharmacology & translational science · 2025Review
- Unrelieved pain and risk of opioid use disorder or overdose in older adults prescribed opioids.Pain · 2025Article
- Article
- Opioid Prescribing Patterns After Imposition of Setting-Specific Limits on Prescription Duration.JAMA health forum · 2024Article
- "This is an absolute witch-hunt for nursing, and nobody feels safe." A qualitative study of nurses, mental health, and the criminal prosecution of a nurse error.PLOS mental health · 2024Article
- "Catastrophization", Its Weaponization, and Opiophobia: A Perfect Landscape for Unnecessary Harms, or "Catastrophization About Catastrophization"?Journal of pain research · 2024Article
- "Cookbook medicine": Exploring the impact of opioid prescribing limits legislation on clinical practice and patient experiences.SSM. Qualitative research in health · 2023Article
- Management of pain in the cancer patient.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWest Virginia has one of the highest rates of opioid overdose related deaths and is known as the epicenter of the opioid crisis in the United States. In an effort to reduce opioid-related harms, SB 273 was signed in 2018, and aimed to restrict opioid prescribing in West Virginia. SB 273 was enacted during a time when physician arrests and convictions had been increasing for years and were becoming more prevalent and more publicized. This study aims to better understand the impact of the legislation on patients and providers.
methodsTwenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with opioid-prescribing primary care physicians and specialists practicing throughout West Virginia.
resultsFour themes emerged, 1. Fear of disciplinary action, 2. Exacerbation of opioid prescribing fear due to restrictive legislation, 3. Care shifts and treatment gaps, and 4. Conversion to illicit substances. The clinicians recognized the harms of inappropriate prescribing and how this could affect their patients. Decreases in opioid prescribing were already occurring prior to the law implementation. Disciplinary actions against opioid prescribers resulted in prescriber fear, which was then exacerbated by SB 273 and contributed to shifts in care that led to forced tapering and opioid under-prescribing. Providers felt that taking on patients who legitimately required opioids could jeopardize their career.
conclusionA holistic and patient-centered approach should be taken by legislative and disciplinary bodies to ensure patients are not abandoned when disciplinary actions are taken against prescribers or new legislation is passed.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.