Drug overdose, driven largely by overdose related to the use of opioids, is now the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. The ongoing opioid crisis lies at the intersection of two public health challenges: reducing the burden of suffering from pain and containing the rising toll of the harms that can arise from the use of opioid medications. Chronic pain and opioid use disorder both represent complex human conditions affecting millions of Americans and causing untold disability and loss of function. In the context of the growing opioid problem, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an Opioids Action Plan in early 2016. As part of this plan, the FDA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a committee to update the state of the science on pain research, care, and education and to identify actions the FDA and others can take to respond to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on informing FDA's development of a formal method for incorporating individual and societal considerations into its risk-benefit framework for opioid approval and monitoring.

An obsessive true crime investigation of a bizarre and unlikely perpetrator, who’s serving the opioid epidemic’s longest term for illegal prescriptions — four life sentences Written in the tradition of I'll Be Gone in the Dark and True Crime Addict, combining Dopesick's heart rending portrayal of the epidemic's victims with Empire of Pain's examination of its perpetrators This haunting and propulsive debut follows a journalist’s years-long investigation into his father's old classmate: former high school valedictorian Paul Volkman, who once seemed destined for greatness after earning his MD and his PhD from the prestigious University of Chicago, but is now serving four consecutive life sentences at a federal prison in Arizona. Volkman was the central figure in a massive “pill mill” scheme in southern Ohio. His pain clinics accepted only cash, employed armed guards, and dispensed a torrent of opioid painkillers and other controlled substances. For nearly three years, Volkman remained in business despite raids by law enforcement and complaints from patients’ family members. Prosecutors would ultimately link him to the overdose deaths of 13 patients, though investigators explored his ties to at least 20 other deaths. This groundbreaking book is based on 12 years of correspondence and interviews with Volkman. Eil also traveled to 19 states, interviewed more than 150 people, and filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Administration that led to the release of nearly 20,000 pages of trial evidence. The American opioid epidemic is, like this book, a true crime story. Through this one doctor’s story, an era of unfathomable tragedy is brought down to a tangible, and devastating, human scale.

The definitive book about the impact of prescription painkiller abuse on individuals, communities, and society by one of America's leading experts on addiction. In recent years, the media has inundated us with coverage of the increasing abuse of prescription painkillers. Prescription Painkillers, the third book in Hazelden's Library of Addictive Drugs series, offers current, comprehensive information on the history, social impact, pharmacology, and addiction treatment for commonly abused, highly addictive opiate prescription painkillers such as Oxycontin®, Vicodin, Percocet, and Darvocet. Marvin D. Seppala, MD, provides context for understanding the current drug abuse problem by tracing the history of opioids and the varying patterns of use over time. He then offers an in-depth study of controversial issues surrounding these readily available drugs, including over-prescription by physicians and adolescent abuse. Also included is a straightforward look at the leading treatment protocols based on current research.

"Opioids and Population Health: A Primer, will help senior undergraduate and graduate students to: 1. Describe theories of addiction. 2. Demonstrate the differences between substance abuse prevention, intervention, and treatment. 3. Explain the United States' historical response to opioids. 4. Discuss the differential scope and burden of the current opioid and heroin epidemic on communities and populations. 5. Explain the various sectors, government agencies, and institutions that address addiction generally and the opioid/heroin epidemic specifically. 6. Describe the effectiveness of policy, legal, and regulatory approaches currently in use to address the epidemic. 7. Consider recommendations for sustainable policy and systems changes that are needed to change the opioid addiction trajectory and reduce the epidemic. The text is written through an interdisciplinary approach using the fields of public health, addiction health services research, and implementation science. The authors' experiences with direct client services, city, county, and state governments, managing non-profits, and evaluating treatment interventions speaks to their ability to address issues related to the epidemic thoroughly and critically"--

Part of the Population Health Primer Series, Opioids and Population Health: A Primer provides a concise overview of the opioid crisis leading the reader to explore what's been done to address this epidemic thusfar and what might be done more effectively using a population health approach. Written from a systems and public health perspective, Opioids and Population Health: A Primer begins with an overview of how drug use and addiction have been perceived and how prevention, intervention, and treatment services have been delivered in the U.S. It then reviews the epidemiology of opioid morbidity and mortality, historical framing of addiction, and addresses the government response to the epidemic. Finally, it explores the public health response to the epidemic and considers how a population health approach may better address the epidemic.