The CDC drug overdose report is extremely telling. To get to the interactive pages where you can select tables showing different information requires you to select from little pop-down menus. I pulled up the table showing causes of death from diagnosis code T40.2, which would be our "prescription opioid medications," except methadone is in a different classification, and we know that it is dispensed for SUD and for pain, so this table does not include those numbers. But it is plainly obvious and everybody knows. Everybody who is anybody in officialdom has to know. But, for posterity's sake, please send all your Representatives this information along with my Congressional to request (I will put that link in the comments) and a letter asking if a Congressional Inquiry has been opened, and if not, asking them to please take action. Everybody knows that deaths from this class of drug, that little bitty green line are caused by pain meds (and please make no mistake, all of these deaths are horrifying, and I do not wish to minimize nor compare nor assert any judgment upon any of these classifications of cause of death). I have not spent much time in this website yet, and I am pretty sure that they do not have a way to tell us whether it was a poly-substance/alcohol abuse plus pain meds death, or, whether the pain meds were a prescription, or, obtained on an illicit basis. That kind of investigation is not happening at the coroner level (if it is, I would be shocked). And that is what we need. We need to know whether the deceased who died from these pain meds: 1. had a prescription at the time of death, and if so, for which drugs/strength/daily dose, of every controlled substance whether detected or not; 2. whether alcohol or other substances were also involved; 3. had a history of treatment for chronic pain with opioids, by showing the oldest date that the deceased had prescription history listed in the PDMP, and the complete history included in the PDMP for all Scheduled medications and the dates prescribed, whether detected or not at the time of death; and by pulling medical insurance pharmacy claims, and, any other known data source where prescriptions of Scheduled medications might be reported, for each of the deceased, for dates preceding the creation of the PDMP, as far back as such a history is documented; 4. whether the deceased person with a PDMP history but no current prescription, had lost access to pain treatment using their medications, through being dismissed from care (if so, for what documented reason, if any), through stopping treatment voluntarily (of so, for what documented reason, if any), or from losing a provider due to a move/relocation by either party, by closure of provider location, by arrest or the death of the doctor; 5. had been involuntary force-tapered by the provider, had prescription medication changes, and if so, what changes, and when; 6. had been dismissed for care after a failed urine screen, and, if so, if that was a rapid test result, had the sample been sent to gas-spectrometry for confirmation; 7. had any recent surgery, emergency room visits, or hospitalizations, accidents, or had given birth at a hospital or at home or other birthing location, the dates, and the reason and diagnosis for each; 8. had a prior overdose documented in the medical record, or had treatment for substance abuse, with or without medication-assistance;. Without funding and investigation personnel, this data is not going to be collected. Let's go deep diving into what all data HAS been reported, and start there. Everybody knows that it is NOT pain meds that are driving this "crisis," but again, I am not minimizing or judging, I just want the TRUTH. cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-…