Overprescribed Opioids

Opioid addiction (OA), including addiction to prescription painkillers and illicit narcotics (heroin), has surged 500% since 2010, while medications use to treat OA grew by just 65%. OA is up partly because 21% of Americans filled at least one opioid prescription last year and the amount of prescription opioids sold in the US has quadrupled since 1999 despite no increase in patient reported pain. 91 Americans die/day from opioid overdoses.