Lancet Series 2016: Substance Use in Young People

This teaching pack focuses on opioid use and the global pain epidemic. It features a lesson plan, “An Opioid Epidemic for Whom?” that is designed for interactive classroom learning about the various factors contributing to the opioid epidemic in the United States, and to place it within a larger global context. Students are invited to contrast the opioid epidemic in the U.S. with the dearth of pain relief medications available in low- and middle-income countries.…

These interactive maps from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) illustrate the geographic distribution of retail opioid prescriptions dispensed in the United States at both the state and county levels. Data is shown as a rate per 100 people, and maps are available for each year from 2019 to 2022; corresponding data tables are also provided. The data show that the national opioid prescribing rate steadily decreased from 46.8 prescriptions dispensed per…

This article from the American Journal of Medicine reviews the several factors that have contributed to the opioid epidemic in the United States. In analyzing the factors that promoted the escalation of opioid use in the U.S., the article reviews several key backstories in the overall picture of the country’s opioid crisis, including failures in oversight of opioid manufacture and use, the rise of the pain movement and the greed of the pharmaceutical industry, lack…