Prescription Drug Overdoses

Providers in the highest prescribing counties prescribed 6 times more opioids per person than the lowest prescribing counties in 2015. Half of US counties had a decrease in the amount of opioids (MME*) prescribed per person from 2010 to 2015. The MME prescribed per person in 2015 was about 3 times as high as in 1999.

Heroin use has increased across the US among men and women, most age groups, and all income levels.

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About 18 women die every day of a prescription painkiller overdose in the US, more than 6,600 deaths in 2010. Prescription painkiller overdoses are an under-recognized and growing problem for women. Although men are still more likely to die of prescription painkiller overdoses (more than 10,000 deaths in 2010), the gap between men and women is closing.

Prescription painkiller overdoses* were responsible for more than 15,500 deaths in 2009. While all prescription painkillers have contributed to an increase in overdose deaths over the last decade, methadone has played a central role in the epidemic.

Deaths from prescription painkillers* have reached epidemic levels in the past decade. The number of overdose deaths is now greater than those of deaths from heroin and cocaine combined. A big part of the problem is nonmedical use of prescription painkillers-using drugs without a prescription, or using drugs just for the "high" they cause.