Four numbers that tell the story of the opioid epidemic

REAL DATA –

Sept. 13, 2023 – Here are the numbers that tell the story:

45 percent: The approximate decrease of prescription opioid pain pills shipped in the United States from 2011 to 2019. But by 2019, the rate of overdose deaths from fentanyl — a powerful synthetic opioid — had skyrocketed.

7.1 billion: The number of hydrocodone and oxycodone pills that were shipped to pharmacies and practitioners in 2019 — a stark decrease from the peak of 12.8 billion pills shipped in 2011.

1: The number of prescription opioids that increased in the final five years of the data. Shipments declined for every prescription opioid except buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid addiction. Doctors and those in the addiction field have tried to increase the availability of the treatment amid the growing drug crisis.

300: The number of counties that received the most doses of prescription pain pills per capita from 2006 through 2013. Those counties later had the highest death rate from illicit opioids, such as heroin and fentanyl, over the subsequent six years.

Why the shift?