Opioid Deaths and Sales
posted by ATS
Sales of opioid analgesics, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, have increased more than 600% since 1997, according to data from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Opioid analgesic sales increased from 96 milligrams per person in 1997 to 698 milligrams per person in 2007. During the same time period, the number of unintentional deaths involving opioid analgesics quadrupled, from 2,901 in
1999 to 11,499 in 2007 (the most recent year for which data are available). The increase in deaths and sales are highly correlated (r=0.99), supporting previous research1 showing a strong, statistically significant correlation between states with…
