Facts on Opioids: What is the Opioid Epidemic?
In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to opioid pain relievers and healthcare providers began to prescribe them at greater rates.
- Increased prescription of opioid medications led to widespread misuse of both prescription and non-prescription opioids before it became clear that these medications could indeed be highly addictive.
- In 2017 HHS declared a public health emergency and announced a 5-Point Strategy To Combat the Opioid Crisis
Synthetic Opioid Overdose Data
In 2018, more than 31,000 deaths involving synthetic opioids (other than methadone) occurred in the United States, which is more deaths than from any other type of opioid. Synthetic opioid-involved death rates increased by 10% from 2017 to 2018 and accounted for 67% of opioid-involved deaths in 2018.
In 2018, more than 31,000 deaths involving synthetic opioids (other than methadone) occurred in the United States, which is more deaths than from any other type of opioid. Synthetic opioid-involved death rates increased by 10% from 2017 to 2018 and accounted for 67% of opioid-involved deaths in 2018.
- Rates increased from 2017 to 2018 among males and females, persons 25 years and older, non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics, non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islanders, and in large central metro, large fringe metro, medium metro, and small metro counties.
- Rates increased in the Northeast, South and West and remained stable in the Midwest.
- Rates increased in 10 states and decreased in two states. The largest relative increase occurred in Arizona (92.5%), and the largest absolute increase occurred in Maryland and Missouri (4.4 per 100,000 in both states); the largest relative and absolute decrease was in Ohio (–20.7%, –6.7 per 100,000). The highest synthetic opioid-involved death rate in 2018 occurred in West Virginia (34.0 per 100,000).1
From 1999–2018, almost 450,000 people died from an overdose involving any opioid, including prescription and illicit opioids.1
This rise in opioid overdose deaths can be outlined in three distinct waves.
This rise in opioid overdose deaths can be outlined in three distinct waves.
- The first wave began with increased prescribing of opioids in the 1990s, with overdose deaths involving prescription opioids (natural and semi-synthetic opioids and methadone) increasing since at least 1999.3
- The second wave began in 2010, with rapid increases in overdose deaths involving heroin.4
- The third wave began in 2013, with significant increases in overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids, particularly those involving illicitly manufactured fentanyl.5,6,7 The market for illicitly manufactured fentanyl continues to change, and it can be found in combination with heroin, counterfeit pills, and cocaine.8