Study projects opioid overdose deaths will grow, largely due to illicit opioids

Opioid overdose deaths could reach 81,700 a year by 2025, and 700,400 over a decade, largely due to illicit opioids, according to a study published today in JAMA Network Open. “Most important, we found that even substantial decreases in the incidence of prescription opioid misuse — that could be achieved, in theory, by highly successful prevention of prescription opioid misuse — would result only in a modest decrease of 3.8 percent to 5.3 percent in opioid-related overdose deaths during 2016 to 2025,” the authors said, highlighting the need to use multiple policy levers.