Wfe doing her studies for Pharmacy just gave me an amazing statistic for Opioid Prescriptions in America

In 2016 doctors wrote 66 prescriptions for Opioids for every 100 Americans.


Either we have a lot of drug addicts or just about everybody in America is sick!


Exact Quote from her Pharmacist textbook

The opioid epidemic continues to be a public health crisis impacting the U.S. and Canada. In 2016, prescribers wrote approximately 66 opioid prescriptions for every 100 Americans. In addition, about 5 out of 100 persons misuse prescription pain relievers.1 Unfortunately, misuse has caused the number of opioid-related deaths to triple from 1999 to 2015.1

Looking at global morphine consumption from 2015, the largest consumer is Austria (213 mg per capita), followed by Canada (118 mg per capita), Denmark (83 mg per capita), and then the United States (60 mg per capita).2 In Canada, opioid pain relievers are used by about 13% of the Canadian population, and among those who use opioid pain relievers, 2% admit to misusing them.3

The good news is that opioid prescribing seems to be plateauing or even decreasing based on recent data in both the U.S. and Canada.1,3,4This may be due to prescribing restrictions and education, state prescription monitoring programs.4,5 Unfortunately, the rate of heroin use and overdose deaths seems to be on the rise in the U.S.1,6 In fact, from 2010 to 2015, the percent of drug overdose deaths due to heroin tripled from 8% in 2010 to 25% in 2015.6 Many experts believe this is because prescription opioids have been taken away and are being replaced with heroin. This emphasizes the importance of really addressing the problems of substance abuse and not just removing the current agent of choice

Last Edited by Slowly awakening on 02/23/2019 02:58 PM