Opioid epidemic in the United States

There is an ongoing <a href="/facts/Opioid_epidemic/YLvVEDTs">opioid epidemic</a> (also known as the opioid crisis) in the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a>, originating out of both <a href="/facts/Medical_prescription/4jt1T3mY">medical prescriptions</a> and <a href="/facts/Illegal_drug_trade/eaTugrky">illegal sources</a>. It has been described as "one of the most devastating public health catastrophes of our time". The opioid epidemic unfolded in three waves. The first wave of the epidemic in the United States began in the late 1990s, according to the <a href="/facts/Centers_for_Disease_Control_and_Prevention/NmoJNDV5">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> (CDC), when opioids were increasingly prescribed for pain management, resulting in a rise in overall opioid use throughout subsequent years. The second wave was from an expansion in the heroin market to supply already addicted people. The third wave, starting in 2013, was marked by a steep tenfold increase in the synthetic opioid-involved death rate as synthetic opioids flooded the US market.
In the United States, there were approximately 109,600 drug-overdose-related deaths in the 12-month period ending January 31, 2023, at a rate of 300 deaths per day. From 1999 to 2020, nearly 841,000 people died from drug overdoses, with prescription and illicit opioids responsible for 500,000 of those deaths. In 2017, there were 70,237 recorded drug overdose deaths; of those deaths, 47,600 involved an opioid. A December 2017 report estimated that 130 people die every day in the United States due to opioid-related drug overdose. The great majority of Americans surveyed in 2015 who used prescription opioids did not believe that they were misusing them.
The problem is significantly worse in rural areas, where <a href="/facts/Socioeconomic_status/5rVhvE8b">socioeconomic</a> variables, health behaviors, and accessibility to healthcare are responsible for a higher death rate. Teen use of opioids has been noticeably increasing, with prescription drugs used more than any illicit drug except <a href="/facts/Cannabis_(drug)/241fYAGD">cannabis</a> - more than <a href="/facts/Cocaine/rdQP4zwF">cocaine</a>, <a href="/facts/Heroin/rYwrKHPk">heroin</a>, and <a href="/facts/Methamphetamine/vS1jloMe">methamphetamine</a> combined.

Opioid epidemic in the United States open-in-new

Opioid epidemic in the United States