top of page
The crisis refers to the rapid increase in prescription opioid pain pills in the United States, This increase has led to skyrocketing rates of heroin use. This increase has also led to a significant increase in addiction and health related complications.
The crisis refers to the rapid increase in prescription opioid pain pills in the United States, This increase has led to skyrocketing rates of heroin use. This increase has also led to a significant increase in addiction and health related complications.
STRUGGLES OF THE CRISIS
Various factors such as prescribing trends, the increase of fentanyl in heroin, high relapse rates, and the overarching impact of opioid addiction, have complicated the crisis.
Prescribing rates
According to the CDC, the amount of pain that Americans have suffered has not changed since the 1990s, however, the use of opioids to treat pain has increased three times since 1999 (CDC, 2018).
Fentanyl
High death rates
Fentanyl, a powerful opioid drug is often 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine (HHS, 2018). Fentanyl is known to be added to various illicit substances, creating more of a danger of overdose.
Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the US, with 52,404 lethal drug overdoses in 2015 (CDC, 2015).
High relapse rates
Opioid relapse rate after detoxification ranges from 72 to 88% after 12–36 months (Chalana, Kundal, Gupta & Malhari, 2016).
High consumption of opioid pain pills among vulnerable populations
The number of pregnant women using opioid pain pills has risen dramatically in recent years (Dirks, 2018).
Learn more vulnerable populations
High prescribing rates of opioid pain pills
Americans consume 80% of the world's pain pills (Dirks, 2018).
bottom of page