America’s painkiller addiction epidemic

As sales of prescription opioid painkillers have surged – from $3.8 billion in 2000 to $9.6bn in 2015 – so has the number of drug-related deaths. More than four out of ten overdose deaths involve synthetic opioids

Drug overdose deaths (thousands)

All drugs  Total painkillers Opioid painkillers Heroin

10 20 30 40 50

2000 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 

4,400  1,960

20,000 7,885

2000-06: Opioid-related deaths increase by 212% to 13,723

2011: Prescriptions for opioid painkillers peak at 219 million

47,055 25,760 18,893 10,574

Opioids Include legal painkillers methadone, oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine and fentanyl

Fentanyl: 100 times more powerful than morphine, and 50 times more powerful than heroin. Illegal fentanyl is driving force behind epidemic

Apr 21, 2016: Rock legend Prince dies from pills laced with fentanyl

Sources: CDC, IMS Healthcare, JAMA

Picture: Associated Press