Here is news you have all been waiting for!
A new CDC Clinical Guideline is being issued, instructing doctors that the earlier instructions are not a "rule" per se, and there is leeway in prescribing opioids. I have not seen the full document yet, but her is the earliest article about it:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2211040
As always, it will take a bit for the full (100+ page) document to filter down to providers, be vetted by clinics, hospitals & insurance companies, and be put into new clinical guidance for front-line docs.
But there is light at the ent of the tunnel for some chronic pain sufferers.
Sue