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Prescription Drug Abuse

Abuse of prescription painkillers, sedatives, tranquilizers, and stimulants is a rising cause of mortality in developed countries. RAND research examines prescription sharing, prevention efforts, prevalence and risk factors, and opportunities to gauge markets for diverted pharmaceuticals.

Journal Article

Reducing High-Dose Opioid Prescribing: State-Level Morphine Equivalent Daily Dose Policies, 2007-2017

Morphine equivalent daily dose thresholds are a promising policy tool, but there is a lack of consensus about how to use the thresholds and what the threshold level should be.

Mar 22, 2019
Journal Article

Journal Article

Physician Prescribing of Opioids to Patients at Increased Risk of Overdose From Benzodiazepine Use in the United States

New opioid prescriptions decreased among higher-risk patients who used benzodiazepines from 2010 to 2015, suggesting that the rapid increase in opioid-related deaths is primarily associated with factors other than physicians writing new opioid prescriptions.

Mar 1, 2019
Journal Article

Journal Article

Unveiling an 'Invisible Population': Health, Substance Use, Sexual Behavior, Culture, and Discrimination Among Urban American Indian/Alaska Native Adolescents in California

American Indian/Alaska Native adolescents in this study used alcohol or other drugs at rates similar to those found in national surveys and rates of risky sexual behavior were also comparable to national data.

Feb 28, 2019
Commentary

Opioids and a Crisis of Unintended Consequences

The pain medicine OxyContin was reformulated in 2010 to make it more difficult to crush or dissolve. But this had unintended consequences, including a rise in hepatitis C infections as drug abusers switched from taking OxyContin to injecting heroin.

Feb 20, 2019
Journal Article

Journal Article

Effect of Age on Opioid Prescribing, Overdose, and Mortality in Massachusetts, 2011 to 2015

Older age was the strongest predictor of undergoing potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) among individuals who were prescribed opioids. PIP was also associated with risk of adverse outcomes in both older and younger adults.

Jan 29, 2019
Journal Article

Supply-Side Drug Policy in the Presence of Substitutes: Evidence from the Introduction of Abuse-Deterrent Opioids

The recent increase in heroin deaths is primarily fueled by the reformulation of OxyContin.

Oct 31, 2018
Commentary

In Opioid Policy, One Size Does Not Fit All

To solve America's opioid crisis, policymakers will need to view the epidemic as an “ecosystem,” where policies that target only one part of the problem can have unintended consequences.

Oct 12, 2018
Journal Article

Nearly Thirty Percent of Physicians' Opioid Prescriptions Lack a Pain Diagnosis

Medical use of opioids has increased dramatically over the past two decades, far exceeding increases in the prevalence of pain. No pain diagnosis was recorded at 28.5 percent of physician visits in which an opioid was prescribed.

Sep 14, 2018
Infographic

Managing Pain with Alternative Therapies

About 126 million adults report having pain in the past three months. Alternative and integrative therapies, such as acupuncture, mindfulness (meditation), and Tai Chi, may help some individuals manage their pain. This infographic compiles information from hundreds of reviews of the evidence on the effect of these three therapies on different types of pain.

Aug 24, 2018
Journal Article

Risky Prescribing of Opioids Linked to More Fatal Overdoses and Other Deaths

When patients are prescribed opioids in risky ways, their chance of dying increases, and their odds of death go higher as the number of risky opioid prescriptions increases.

Aug 23, 2018
Dissertation

Dissertation

Increasing Access to Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorders: Estimating Costs, Supply, and the Effects of Insurance Expansions

This dissertation measures access to buprenorphine, the fastest growing form of medication-assisted treatment, and the effects of demand side interventions aiming to tackle the opioid problem in America.

Aug 14, 2018
Research Brief

Consider a Range of Policy Areas to Solve the Opioid Crisis

Many thoughtful policies have been implemented to reduce access to opioids and enhance treatment for addiction. But policies targeting one part of the system can have unintended effects on another. To combat the crisis, decisionmakers will need to weigh potential policy outcomes across the entire opioid ecosystem.

Jun 29, 2018
Journal Article

Use of Medication Therapy to Treat Opioid Abuse Among Medicaid Recipients Increased After Approval of New Drug

The number of Medicaid recipients receiving medication to treat opioid abuse increased sharply in the years after approval of buprenorphine, but the increase was smaller in poorer counties and areas with larger populations of black and Hispanic residents.

Jun 27, 2018
News Release

News Release

Use of Medication Therapy to Treat Opioid Abuse Among Medicaid Recipients Increased After Approval of New Drug

The number of Medicaid recipients receiving medication to treat opioid abuse increased sharply in the years after approval of buprenorphine, but the increase was smaller in poorer counties and areas with larger populations of black and Hispanic residents.

Jun 25, 2018
Research Brief

Substance Use Among U.S. Active-Duty Service Members

The 2015 Health Related Behaviors Survey asked active-duty service members about their use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit and prescription drugs. Cigarette smoking in the military has decreased over the past decade, but rates of binge drinking are still high enough to cause concern.

Jun 21, 2018
News Release

News Release

Risky Prescribing of Opioids Linked to More Fatal Overdoses and Other Deaths

When patients are prescribed opioids in risky ways, their chance of dying increases, and their odds of death go higher as the number of risky opioid prescriptions increases.

Jun 18, 2018
Journal Article

The U.S. Opioid Epidemic: One Disease, Diverging Tales

To date, the stigma associated with opioid dependence has had the untoward effect of discouraging treatment-seeking behavior before the occurrence of an adverse event.

Jun 1, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Addressing the Opioid Epidemic in the United States: Lessons from the Department of Veterans Affairs

Reflecting a comprehensive VA effort to improve pain management, in 2007 fewer veterans received high doses of opioids and more veterans received non-opioid pain therapies, naloxone, and treatment for substance use disorders.

Apr 26, 2018
Journal Article

Market Supply and the Opioid Crisis: Looking Back for a Path Forward

Abundant supply of opioids was one of the major causes of the opioid crisis. Broader supply-side policies that consider the full market, if coupled with effective treatment, are likely to be effective and resistant to substitution effects.

Mar 1, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

The Evaluation of Medical Inpatients Who Are Admitted on Long-term Opioid Therapy for Chronic Pain

Outpatient guidelines can help hospitalists evaluate inpatients on long-term opioid therapy, but more work is needed to help providers make decisions for inpatients that balance effective pain treatment and opioid risk reduction.

Feb 13, 2018

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