JUST THINK TWICE

IN UTAH:

• There was a 400 percent increase in drug overdose deaths between 2000 and 2015.[1] 
• Over 9 percent of Utah teens surveyed admitted to misusing a prescription painkiller one or more times during their life.[2] 
• 24 people die every month from prescription drug overdose in Utah.[1]

HEROIN ABUSE:

• 1 in 5 high school seniors know how to get heroin easily.
• The vast majority of teens do not use heroin. In a 2017 national survey, only 0.4% of 12th graders used heroin in the past year.[3] 
• 95.5% of 12th graders disapprove of taking heroin occasionally.[3]
• In 2016, over 600,000 people (12 or older) reported having a heroin use disorder.[4]
   

PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE:

• Prescription opioid analgesics, specifically those containing oxycodone and hydrocodone, are the most common types of prescription drugs that are diverted for misuse and abused.
• Each day in the United States, over 174 people die as a result of a drug overdose.[5] 
• In 2016, an estimated 3.6 million people (aged 12 or older) reported past month misuse of opioid pain relievers.[4]  
• 53% of nonmedical users (12 years or older) reported receiving the prescription drugs they most recently used “from a friend or relative for free.”[6] 

FENTANYL:

• Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 80-100 times stronger than morphine.
• ​The death rate of synthetic opioids other than methadone, jumped by 72.2% from 2014 to 2015.[7]
• During 2016 alone there were almost 29,000 reports of fentanyl (up from 1,041 reports in 2013).[8] 

Learn More About the Science of Addiction Explore common misconceptions about opioids through the voices of teens. Go to Operation Prevention.

¹ Source: Utah Department of Health’s Violence & Injury Prevention Program. View source here.

² Source: Utah, High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2017. View source here.

³ Source: University of Michigan, 2017 Monitoring the Future Study. View source here.

⁴Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, September 2017.  View source here.

⁵ Source: Drug Overdose Deaths in the United States, 1999-2016. View source here.

⁶ Source: Prescription Drug Use and Misuse in the United States: Results from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, September 2016.  View source here.

⁷ Source: Rudd RA, Seth P, David F, Scholl L. Increases in Drug and Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths — United States, 2010–2015. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. ePub: 16 December 2016. View source here.

⁸ Source: “Fentanyl: The Next Wave of the Opioid Crisis.” Statement from Louis J. Milione Assistant Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration. March 21, 2017.