More than 1 in 3 Americans prescribed opioids in 2015
Last Updated: Wednesday July 28, 2021
(CBS News, August 1) More than 90 million Americans (or one out of three people) took a prescription opioid painkiller in 2015, according to results from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
"The proportion of adults who receive these medications in any year seemed startling to me," study co-author Dr. Wilson Compton, deputy director of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, said. "It's an awful lot of people who take these, mostly for medical purposes, but within that a significant percentage end up misusing them."
Indeed, more than 11 million people (almost 5 percent of the U.S. population) misused prescription opioids they got illegally. Read more.
"The proportion of adults who receive these medications in any year seemed startling to me," study co-author Dr. Wilson Compton, deputy director of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, said. "It's an awful lot of people who take these, mostly for medical purposes, but within that a significant percentage end up misusing them."
Indeed, more than 11 million people (almost 5 percent of the U.S. population) misused prescription opioids they got illegally. Read more.