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Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States
– American Society of Addiction Medicine, 2016
One person dies approximately every 7-8 minutes from a drug overdose in the United States
– Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
More than 72,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2017,
setting a new record
– Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017
In 2012, health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for opioid pain medication, enough for every adult in the United States to have a bottle of pills
– Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012
One in five visits to a family physician in the United States results in a prescription for opioids
– Archives of Internal Medicine, 2011
56% of physicians with patients on long-term opioid therapy do not realize the extent of the prescription drug abuse problem in the U.S.
– Pain Medicine News, 2015
84% of physicians with patients on long-term opioid therapy said definitions for misuse, abuse, and diversion are poorly understood by the medical community
– Pain Medicine News, 2015