Opioids

“We have to stop treating addiction as a moral failing, and start seeing it for what it is: a chronic disease that must be treated with urgency and compassion.” – Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, United States Surgeon General

Extent of the issue

The impact of the opioid crisis cuts across racial/ethnic groups, age, sex, geography, and socioeconomic status.  Forty-four percent of Americans say they personally know someone who has been addicted to prescription painkillers.^[i]  Here are some facts about the opioid crisis:

• 78 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose.^[ii]
• In 2014, more than 10 million people in the United States reported using prescription opioids for nonmedical reasons, and close to 2 million people older than 12 years met diagnostic criteria for a substance use disorder involving prescription opioids.^[iii] 
• There has been quadrupling of prescriptions for opioids since 1999,^[iv] but there has not been an overall change in the amount of pain that Americans report.^[v],[vi] 
• As many as one in four patients receiving long-term opioid therapy in a primary care setting struggles with addiction.^[vii] 

The Surgeon General’s #TurnTheTide Campaign

The Surgeon General has launched an opioids campaign to raise awareness about opioid addiction and to help concerned Americans identify roles they can play in their community by:

• Sending a letter to 2.3M health care providers, including doctors, dentists and nurses, encouraging members of the profession to be leaders in combating this epidemic but still treating their patient’s pain appropriately.
• Visiting America’s hardest hit communities as part of the Surgeon General’s TurnTheTide nationwide tour, listening to the stories of those affected, and talking to community leaders about what practices have been most effective and what challenges remain.
• Engaging stakeholders, including health care providers, policy makers, educators, law enforcement officers, and the larger community how America thinks about substance use disorders and addiction.

You can help turn the tide of the opioid crisis! To learn more, and to get involved, please join us at www.TurnTheTideRx.org!

What you can do

All of us have a role to play in preventing opioid addiction. Here’s what you can do:

• If you are a person experiencing pain, or taking pain medications, have a conversation with your health care provider about how much, and how long to take medications, and the pain management techniques that are right for you.
• Help us change the conversation around addiction so that we come to understand that addiction is not a moral failing. It is a chronic illness that we need to treat with skill, urgency, and compassion. Treatment and recovery from opioid addiction is possible, and there is help. Find addiction treatment. 
• Store and dispose of prescription drugs safely.
• Learn more about drug take-back programs in your area
• To learn more about opioids and how it impacts you, visit here:
  • http://turnthetiderx.org/
  • http://www.hhs.gov/opioids/drug-and-pain-medication-facts/index.html
  • http://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/prescribing/patients.html