Morphine Addiction Statistics
Morphine addiction affects all of our lives. Its effects are not limited to the user, or their family, but to our entire community. Right now, morphine and other prescription addiction are a serious national concern in America. $500 billion is spent a year on morphine addiction in America, when you include health and crime costs, loss of productivity and accidents. Morphine addiction statistics can be difficult to find on their own, because they are usually grouped into the category of prescription abuse statistics, classifying it as part of the larger problem.
Prescription Abuse Statistics
The first statistic we are going to talk about has to do with the rise of prescription use. The number of people, who use prescriptions, including morphine, is growing. Over 5 million people were prescribed pain killers in 2006. There was an increase of 500,000 more users than there were in the prior year. Furthermore, statisticians believe that this upward trend is only going to increase even more in the coming years. This is why prescription use and abuse is a national concern. With a growing proportion of the population using these kinds of medications, we must be aware of the dangers as a society.
In recent years teen use has decreased, but of the teens that are using prescription drugs not prescribed to them, 60% say they got them from relatives unknowingly or their friends. This behavior can be extremely dangerous, because you may not know the warnings and precautions associated with the medication. You could easily end up overdosing in a situation like this.
On a societal level, it has been found that medical and worker compensation claims for employees who abuse drugs are twice as costly as claims for drug-free employees. Additionally, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has found that as high as 22% of all car crashes in the United States involve at least one driver who has been using drugs. This statistic displays why drug use is a serious problem in America, as well as the burden drug use puts on our society as a whole.
Morphine Addiction Statistics
Many of the statistics for prescription abuse are quite surprising, but the statistics due to just morphine addiction, may just shock you. These statistics are associated with emergency room use, and the increase caused by morphine addiction. Morphine and heroin use increase emergency room visits by as much as 15% annually. In fact, morphine has been rated as the 3rd most popular reason for emergency room admission, with the first being an alcohol and drug interaction, and second place going to cocaine. Morphine use is very dangerous, and these statistics prove that.
The last morphine addiction statistic that I am going to leave you with is this; opiate users who inject the drugs average about 14 years of use before they ever even enter a rehab for the first time. Don’t be a statistic; don’t let this happen to you. You can get help, you can quit today.