Prescription Opioid Use and Misuse: 10 Myths or Facts

An overwhelming majority of drug overdose deaths in the US involve a prescription opioid.

Myth: Less than one-third of drug overdose deaths in 2015 involved a prescription opioid.

Opioid overdose, abuse, and addiction in the US is estimated at more than $75 billion/year.

Myth: Opioid overdose, abuse, and addiction in the US costs more than $78 billion/year.

The number of US opioid prescriptions and amount of opioids prescribed increased between 2010 and 2015.

Myth: Between 2010 and 2015 the amount of opioids prescribed in the US declined as did the number of opioid prescriptions.

The amount of opioids prescribed in 2015 was the lowest in the US in the past 20 years.

Myth: The amount of opoids prescribed in 2015 was more than 3x higher than in 1999.

The level of US opioid prescribing correlates with a reduction in the number of people suffering pain.

Myth: No research supports the fact that more opioid prescribing has lessened suffering of people with pain.

State prescription drug monitoring programs have been shown to increase use of heroin.

Myth: There is no evidence that state policies to decrease opioid misuse have resulted in increased heroin use.

The amount of per capita opioids prescribed is higher in the US than in European countries.

Fact: In 2015, opioid prescriptions in the US were nearly 4x the per capita amount prescribed in Europe.

The reduction in US opioid prescribing seen between 2010 and 2015 occurred evenly throughout US counties.

Myth: There was wide variation in the amount of opioids prescribed in US counties; in the highest-prescribing county it was 6x that seen in the lowest-prescribing county.

Higher amounts of opoioids prescribed in a county are associated with a larger percentage of non-hispanic white residents.

Fact: Higher amounts of opioid prescribing are associated with more non-Hispanic whites, higher rate of uninsured/Medicaid enrollment, more physicians and dentists per capita.

It is only after one month of use after an initial prescription that a person's likelihood of continued use at one year increases.

Myth: 6% of patients who take opioids for longer than one day will go on to use them for a year; that rate more than doubles when opoids are taken for 8 days or more.

The most common source of prescription opioids for non-medical use is from drug dealers or other strangers.

Myth: The most common source of opioids for non-medical use is a friend or relative who provides them for free. Physicians become the more predominant source among those using opioids for 200 or more days in the past year.

Physicians are much less likely to prescribe opioids for patients with mental health disorders, eg, anxiety and mood disorders.

Myth: More than one-half of the opioids prescribed in the US are to those with mental health conditions despite the fact that same increase risk of abuse and addiction.