A recent article in CMAJ entitled Effect of emergency department opioid prescribing on health outcomes examines a key concern facing many clinicians: can a single opioid prescription for acute pain lead to long-term harm? This study aimed to clarify the risks and inform safer prescribing practices. Dr. Grant Innes, the study’s senior author, analyzed more than a decade of data from Alberta emergency departments to compare outcomes between patients who did and did not receive an opioid pr...