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• 33,000 opioid-related deaths in the US in 2015

• Heroin use has gone up as other opioid use has gone down suggesting that prescription drug users are shifting to heroin

• Heroin caused 1,960 deaths in 1999 compared to 10,574 in 2014 and opioid deaths went from 4,030 to 18,893 in the same 15 years

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• Opioid prescriptions tripled over the 20 years between 1991 to 2011 from 76 million to 219 million. Mexican heroin flooded the market and was cheaper, and easier to obtain so people flocked to it

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• 12 states had more opioid prescriptions than adults in 2012 now there is a stronger effort to hold the drug companies accountable

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Opioids have been increasingly prescribed, particularly in the South and Midwest where there can be as many as 1.5 opioid prescriptions per person. This has direct correlations to heroin use as prescription users will often make the switch to heroin when their prescription gets discontinued.

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The problem is further complicated because these areas with high opioid usage generally don’t have advanced HIV prevention programs available, and needle exchange programs are less prevalent.

Statistics on Opioids