Addressing the Opioid Crisis

Drug overdose is now the No. 1 cause of unintentional death in the United States. In 2018, over 67,000 people died from drug overdoses. The main driver of these deaths is opioids – including prescription opioids, heroin, and fentanyl and its analogues.

People who take prescribed opioids, even as directed, may build up a tolerance. When pain has subsided, some people find it easy to stop taking them and others find it harder to quit. Some people who find it harder to quit may continue to take opioids for longer than necessary, or may develop an opioid use disorder. Over 50% percent of people who have misused prescription opioids reported getting them from friends or relatives. Most people don't even know that sharing opioids is a felony.

People who take opioid pain relievers for too long or in doses too large are more at risk of developing an opioid use disorder and more likely to die of drug overdose. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 9.9 million people ages 12 and older misused prescription opioids in 2018, and an estimated 2 million people had an opioid use disorder.

Learn How to Help Keep Loved Ones Alive

National Safety Council provides answers for families, resources for employers and prescribers, and information to help keep you safe at home and in your community:

Research indicates people who take opioid pain relievers may quickly develop a tolerance to and dependence on this class of drug; visit the Understanding Opioids fact sheet in NSC opioid toolkit to learn how opioids work and why they can be risky
Talk to children about taking prescription drugs that weren't prescribed
Learn about safe storage and safe disposal of medications
Find out how much good can come from a coordinated effort
Learn what legal measures are being taken to address drug overdose
Learn why ibuprofen and acetaminophen when taken together form one of the strongest oral treatments for pain and how opioids delay recovery from injury or surgery

Opioids: By the Numbers

The term “opioid” includes both prescription pain relievers (Vicodin, Percocet, OxyContin, etc.) and illicit drugs (heroin, illicitly manufactured fentanyl, etc.). Some of these substances are derived from the poppy plant (natural or semisynthetic opioids), while others are fully synthetic (they don’t occur naturally).

The most recent data (from 2017) shows us that:

The majority of preventable drug overdose deaths involve opioids (70%); opioid deaths totaled 43,036
Preventable opioid overdose deaths increased 14%, and 633% since 1999
The opioid category that includes morphine, oxycodone and hydrocodone was involved in 12,255 deaths
The drug category most frequently involved in opioid overdoses and growing at the fastest pace is synthetic opioids other than methadone (fentanyl, drugs that are chemically similar to fentanyl)
Fentanyl accounted for 26,211 preventable deaths, representing a 48% increase over the 17,696 total in 2016
Heroin accounted for the second highest number of deaths, claiming 14,762 lives