Opioid Use Increasing Among Patients: Some Seek Painkillers Illegally

Prescription opioids have been the subject of drug abuse for years. Suffering from pain or not, people will seek to obtain the drugs for recreational or unintended uses. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided recent statistics in regards to prescription painkillers and their abuse among people in the United States. They found that more than 12 million people reported using prescription opioids recreationally in 2010, and in 2009 this use contributed to 475,000 emergency room visits due to misuse and abuse.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration conducted a study authored by Christopher M. Jones in which information was collected from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The data provided nonmedical and misuse of prescription medications, specifically opioid pain relievers. Jones found those who aren't prescribed opioids, seek to receive them from friends or family members, and when that option is exhausted they search for them through drug dealers and strangers.

The published version of the study can be found here.

Another study conducted by Jane A. Gwire Baumblatt and colleagues at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality used information about drug use in Tennessee, where one-third of the state's population is prescribed opioids. The study analyzed opioid prescription data from 2007 to 2011 to find the number of opioid-related overdose deaths as well as risk factors associated with the deaths.

The authors found an increase in prescription rates over this five year span, with risk factors including using multiple prescribers, pharmacies, and consuming a daily dosage greater than 100 MMEs. These risk factors account for 55% of the recorded overdose deaths. More results of this study can be found here.

These two studies found that intervention measures need to be taken in order to mitigate the issue of prescription opioid misuse and recreational use. This may become an even bigger matter after the FDA's approval of Zohydro.

To read more about the widespread abuse of prescription opioids, visit this news release.