“The opioid crisis is here and affecting everyday Americans and surgical patients worldwide,” Collier says. “Anyone having a surgery, experiencing pain and being prescribed opioids is at risk of becoming addicted to opioids. The numbers are horrific.”
“The average rate of later opioid dependency and addiction among patients with soft tissue and orthopedic operations is 12%, according to statistics released by the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, the National Center for Health Statistics and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. More than 17,000 deaths were attributed to overdosing on commonly prescribed opioids,” Collier says.
“There are 130 people dying every day from an opioid-related overdose and there are more than 11.4 million people that have misused opioids,” he adds, noting that “the most alarming statistic of all is that 80% of people addicted to heroin first misused prescription opioids.”
