Bioelectronics Corp (BIEL)

[Bring it on]

In 2015, more Americans died of drug overdoses than in any other year on record – 52,000 in that year alone. And more than two-thirds of those fatal overdoses came from some form of opioid, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now, as experts and families search for answers, there is growing evidence of an association between high school or college sports injuries and the prescription drugs that lead to addiction.

A 2013 study at the University of Michigan found “adolescent participants in high-injury sports had 50 percent higher odds of non-medical use of prescription opioids than adolescents who did not participate in these types of sports.” A more recent study found that 12th graders who played ice hockey had “substantially higher” odds of non-medical opioid or heroin use.

The authors of these studies are careful to note that there is no proven causation, only association.