Decline in Rx Opioid and Heroin Use, Death

(Winter 2018) Amid a country-wide drug crisis, there is, thankfully, some hopeful news to report. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) found that the amount of U.S. citizens who began heroin use fell by over half from 2016 to 2017. The number of individuals seeking treatment for drug abuse rose appreciably as well. This was especially notable for individuals with heroin-related opioid use disorders, which increased from approximately 38% in 2017 to almost 55% in 2017.

Nationally, the 18- to 25-year-old demographic showed a marked jump in marijuana and methamphetamine use, although the group is now less likely to misuse prescription opioids.

Following this trend, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) recently reported that overall prescription opioid overdose mortalities reached the lowest in eight years, and fatalities due to heroin overdoses are the lowest in four years. It is now powerful, illicit fentanyl — which is being combined and consumed with drugs like heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine — that is fueling the Buckeye State’s accidental overdose fatalities, which reached 4,854 in 2017.

ODH noted as well that lives lost due to overdoses fell during the last six months of 2017 by almost 25%. A decline in availability of prescription opioids may be the reason, as abuse of these drugs often leads to later use of fentanyl and heroin.

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