Recent Abuse Trends

In a February 2008 testimony to a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, the Director of National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services discussed the more recent and very troubling trends in prescription drug abuse - in particular opiate abuse.

1. According to SAMHSA's Drug Abuse Warning Network, the number of drug-related emergency room visits involving prescription opioids show a 153% increase from 1995–2002, and in absolute terms increased from 42,857 to 108,320 in the same period.

2. SAMHSA's Treatment Episode Data Set, 1995-2005 showed that admissions for opiates other than heroin increased from 16,121 in 1995 to 67,887 in 2005, an increase of 321 percent.

3. 2006 CDC data shows that prescribed pain medications are the force behind increased drug poisoning death. The number of deaths involving prescription opioid analgesics increased 160 percent from 1999 to 2004. By 2004, opioid painkiller abuse deaths outnumbered total deaths involving heroin and cocaine.