In the two years that have passed since the CDC Opioid Guideline was released, many pain management thought leaders have conceptualized this guideline as a pendulum that was to swing patient care from an extreme of opioid permissiveness to a more thoughtful middle-ground of opioid allowance within limitations. That middle ground was supposed to permit opioid prescribing in chronic pain for well-selected and well vetted patients whose dosing is within reasonable limits. Are the guidelines working?