With 5 percent of the world’s population, the U.S. consumes 80 percent of the world’s prescription opioids. Opioids are restricted in other countries to treating acute pain associated with injuries and burns and chronic pain due to malignancies.
An estimated 12.5 million Americans misused prescription opioids in 2015. Prescription opioids accounted for at least 20,000 deaths that year; illicit opioids – heroin and counterfeit fentanyl – led to an additional 13,000 deaths.
The top five states in opioid prescriptions in 2015 were Alabama (142.9 per 100 population), Tennessee (142.0), West Virginia (137.6), Kentucky 128.4) and Oklahoma (127.8). In sharp contrast, the states with the least opioid prescriptions were Hawaii (52), California (57), New York (59.6), Minnesota (61.6) and New Jersey (62.9). Within a state, opioid use may vary widely from one county to another.
Because treatment of opioid addiction is complex, expensive and may be lifelong, prevention is key. Three-quarters of heroin addicts report that prescription opioids served as gateways to their drug dependence.
Dr. Clif CleavelandEducation