Opioid Awareness

Opioid awareness is a topic that aims to create awareness about the effects of opioid overdose and reduce the stigma associated with it. It also acknowledges the grief felt by families and friends of opioid users. There are different resources for patients and healthcare professionals to support prescribing of opioid medicines for pain and for those suffering from an opioid use disorder to locate help and resources.

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The number of drug overdose deaths increased by nearly 30% from 2019 to 2020 and has quintupled since 1999.  Nearly 75% of the 91,799 drug overdose deaths in 2020 involved an opioid. From 2019 to 2020, there were significant changes in opioid-involved death rates:

• Opioid-involved death rates increased by 38%.

• Prescription opioid-involved death rates increased by 17%.

• Heroin-involved death rates decreased by 7%.

• Synthetic opioid-involved death rates (excluding methadone) increased by 56%1.