Opioid epidemic

The opioid epidemic or opioid crisis is the rapid increase in the use of prescription and non-prescription opioid drugs in the United States and Canada in the 2010s. Opioids are a diverse class of very strong painkillers, including oxycodone (commonly sold under the trade names OxyContin and Percocet), hydrocodone (Vicodin), and fentanyl, which are synthesized to resemble opiates such as opium-derived morphine and heroin. The potency and availability of these substances, despite their high risk of addiction and overdose, have made them popular both as formal medical treatments and as recreational drugs. Due to their sedative effects on the part of the brain which regulates breathing, opioids in high doses present the potential for respiratory depression, and may cause respiratory failure and death.

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, "overdose deaths, particularly from prescription drugs and heroin, have reached epidemic levels." Nearly half of all opioid overdose deaths in 2016 involved prescriptions. From 1999 to 2008, overdose death rates, sales, and substance abuse treatment admissions related to opioid pain relievers all increased substantially. By 2015, annual overdose deaths surpassed deaths from both car accidents and guns.

Drug overdoses have since become the leading cause of death of Americans under 50, with two-thirds of those deaths from opioids. In 2016, 62,000 Americans died from overdoses, 19 percent more than in 2015, and had killed more Americans in one year than both the wars in Vietnam and Iraq combined. By comparison, the figure was 16,000 in 2010, and 4,000 in 1999. Figures from June 2017 indicate the problem has worsened. While death rates varied by state, public health experts estimate that nationwide over 500,000 people could die from the epidemic over the next 10 years.

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