The crackdown on opioid prescriptions to rein in the raging epidemic of opioid abuse and overdoses is picking up steam. Ten states have passed legislation that limits new opioid prescriptions to 10 days or less (in line with 2016 Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention guidelines), and more states are likely to follow suit. This week, President Trump signed an executive order that would create a commission to review various strategies to prevent addiction. [...]
More than 33,000 people died from opioid drug overdose in 2015 — the highest number of opioid-related deaths since at least the late 1990s. But for the first time, in 2015 more people died from heroin than prescription painkillers such as hydrocodone and oxycodone. [...]
"Heroin use appears to have become more socially acceptable among suburban and rural white individuals, perhaps because its effects seem so similar to those of widely available prescription opioids," wrote Silvia Martins and Columbia University researchers.
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