Thread by @JillPiggott

Those least likely to develop #addiction are most likely to get an #opioid rx: 1/2 of the 15% of Americans who filled an opioid rx in 2018 were 55+ with 1/4 of all rx's going to people over 65.

2016 study found a 0.3% #addiction rate. The risk of addiction drops .68% per decade.

#CDC: Prevalence of substance use disorders involving schedule II #opioids (age 12+ US 2018): 0.6%.

Schedule II drugs can be rx'ed. Most abuse involves illegal drugs. CDC relies on self-reported data for its annual report. cdc.gov/drugoverdose/p…

#CDC 2019: "Rates of #opioid rx's continued to drop, continuing the trend that began in 2012."

But: "The rate of drug overdose deaths increased significantly from 1999 to 2017."

That's because medical use does not fuel the epidemic of overdoses to illegally-obtained drugs.

#CDC 2019: There were "only small increases" in deaths involving schedule II #opioids from 2006 to 2017. Schedule II drugs are available by rx, but only a fraction of people overdose on a drug they've been prescribed (see below). cdc.gov/drugoverdose/p…

States track every #opioid script. When researchers match Rx Drug Monitoring Data to fatal ODs, they find only a fraction of people have a script for a drug that killed them.

2010: 0.002% NC residents fatally overdosed on an opioid prescribed for them (Dasgupta, Pain Med 2016).

In 2015, 0.00019% of Massachusetts residents fatally overdosed on an #opioid prescribed for them (Wallay, Public Health Reports, 2019).

Multiple studies show that dropping & stopping #opioid scripts drives overdoses UP, not down. Med'l use is not the cause of the OD epidemic.