Proper Use of Opioids: Red Flags for the Detection of Misuse and Abuse During a Nationwide Epidemic

Course overview

Even though opioids are effective pain treatment options, they also have the lethal potential to be misused and abused. In the United States, there is an opioid epidemic in which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that opioid-related overdose deaths have nearly tripled from 1999 to 2014. Among the 47,055 drug overdose deaths that occurred in 2014 in the United States, 28,647 (61%) involved an opioid. In November 2016, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) referred to prescription drugs and heroin as the most significant drug-related threats in the United States. The CDC states that the misuse of prescription opioids is a risk factor for a heroin addiction, as those who take opioids are 40 times more likely to abuse or be dependent on heroin.