Did you know??

Prescription drug abuse is the fastest growing drug problem in the United States

• People in the United States consume 75-80% of the world’s narcotic pain medication but comprise only 5% of the world’s total population
• Every year over 200 million prescriptions are written- one for each person over the age of 18
• 1 in 5 teens (4.5 million) have abused prescription drugs
• 44,000 people- the equivalent of two 747s crashing every week- died from some type of drug use in 2013
• Opioid pain reliever sales quaddrupled between 1999 and 2010
• 17% of people get their prescriptions from their doctor. The rest- 83%- get them from family and friends

Impact on treatment…

President Obama announced prescription drug abuse and heroin use are a national epidemic

• The sharp rise in prescription drug addiction correlates with a sharp rise in referral to treatment
• The substance abuse treatment admission rate for opioid addiction in 2010 was 7 times higher than in 1999
• Addiction to prescription and non-prescription medication correlates strongly with the use of heroin

Here in Pennsylvania:    

• Overdose rates from 2010 are above the national overdose rate
• We are in the top 4 states where more people die from drug overdoses than from traffic accidents