World Drug Report 2023

This data portal hosted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention depicts how drug overdose deaths and opioid-involved deaths continue to increase in the United States; overdose deaths from opioids have increased by a factor of six since 1999. Opioids are a drug class that contains heroin as well as prescription pain relievers such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, codeine, fentanyl, and others; these substances interact with specific brain receptors to reduce the intensity of…

This Lancet series examines the rising epidemic of prescription opioid misuse, abuse, and overdose-related deaths around the world, closely linked to inappropriate opioid prescribing after surgery. 10 percent of patients who have surgery will have chronic postsurgical pain, which typically begins as acute pain that is difficult to control, but transitions into a persistent pain that is unresponsive to opioids. Clinicians have an important role to play in recognizing the differences between acute and chronic…

This case from the Western Public Health Casebook 2020 focuses on Canada's ongoing opioid crisis, particularly in the Windsor-Essex region in Ontario. This includes a rise in deaths and overdoses related to prescription opioids or from increased availability of illegal forms of opioids, like fentanyl. Canadians are often overprescribed opioids for pain management, and this has been no different in Windsor-Essex County. To address the the ongoing crisis, a multipronged initiative was launched, focused on…