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Non medical use of Rx pain relievers over the last year in the U.S. 2002-2018
Non medical use of Rx pain relievers over the last year in the U.S. 2002-2018
Number of people in the U.S. who used prescription opioids for non medical purposes from 2002 to 2018 (in millions)*
by Matej Mikulic,
last edited
Sep 2, 2019
This statistic shows the number of people in the U.S. who used prescription opioids during the previous year for non medical purposes from 2002 to 2018. In 2018, an estimated 9.95 million people used prescription opioids for non medical purposes.
Number of people in the U.S. who used prescription opioids for non medical purposes from 2002 to 2018 (in millions)*
Loading statistic...
| Number of people in millions | |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 9.95 |
| 2017 | 11.08 |
| 2016 | 11.52 |
| 2015 | 12.46 |
| 2014 | 10.34 |
| 2013 | 11.08 |
| 2012 | 12.49 |
| 2011 | 11.14 |
| 2010 | 12.24 |
| 2009 | 12.45 |
| 2008 | 11.92 |
| 2007 | 12.52 |
| 2006 | 12.65 |
| 2005 | 11.82 |
| 2004 | 11.26 |
| 2003 | 11.67 |
| 2002 | 10.99 |
| Number of people in millions | |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 9.95 |
| 2017 | 11.08 |
| 2016 | 11.52 |
| 2015 | 12.46 |
| 2014 | 10.34 |
| 2013 | 11.08 |
| 2012 | 12.49 |
| 2011 | 11.14 |
| 2010 | 12.24 |
| 2009 | 12.45 |
| 2008 | 11.92 |
| 2007 | 12.52 |
| 2006 | 12.65 |
| 2005 | 11.82 |
| 2004 | 11.26 |
| 2003 | 11.67 |
| 2002 | 10.99 |
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by Matej Mikulic,
last edited
Sep 2, 2019
This statistic shows the number of people in the U.S. who used prescription opioids during the previous year for non medical purposes from 2002 to 2018. In 2018, an estimated 9.95 million people used prescription opioids for non medical purposes.
- Show sources information
- Show publisher information
- Release date
- August 2019
- Region
- United States
- Survey time period
- 2002 to 2018
- Age group
- 12 years and older
- Special properties
- noninstitutionalized persons
- Supplementary notes
- * Use of prescription opioids during the previous year.
Free access to basic statistics
Source
- Show sources information
- Show publisher information
- Release date
- August 2019
More information
- Region
- United States
- Survey time period
- 2002 to 2018
- Age group
- 12 years and older
- Special properties
- noninstitutionalized persons
- Supplementary notes
- * Use of prescription opioids during the previous year.
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Statistics on "Opioid use in the U.S."
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- Which of the following are barriers to effectively combating the opioid epidemic?Barriers to effectively combat the opioid epidemic U.S. 2018
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Further Content: Statistics, Studies, and Topic Pages
Statistics
- Share of Canadians with select experiences with opioids in 2017, by province
- Share of Canadians who believed opioids were a serious problem as of 2017, by age
- Opioid drug overdose male death rates in the U.S. 1999-2015
- Prescription opioid overdose U.S. death rate 2000-2017
- Share of Canadians who knew someone with experience with opioids in 2019
- U.S. adults using prescription opioid analgesics in past month by characteristic 2012
- Use of prescription opioid analgesic among U.S. adults by age and gender 2007-2012
- Use of prescription opioid analgesics among U.S. adults 1999-2012
- Fatal methadone overdoses Australia 2007-2016
- Fatal heroin overdoses Australia 2007-2016
- Rate of patients with at least one opioid prescription U.S. 2017, by age
- Fatal natural and semi-synthetic opioid overdoses Australia 2007-2016
- Percentage of U.S. population with at least one opioid prescription 2014-2017
- Fatal synthetic opioid overdoses Australia 2007-2016
- U.S. adults using prescription opioid analgesics in past month by strength 1999-2012
- Total U.S. population with 3 or more prescriptions within 30 days 1988-2014
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- U.S. population with 5 or more prescriptions within 30 days by gender 1988-2014
- U.S. population with 5 or more prescriptions within 30 days by age 1988-2014
- Total U.S. population with usage of prescription drugs within 30 days 1988-2014
Studies
- Drug use in the Nordic countries
- Drug use in Denmark
- Drug Use Among Seniors in Canada, 2016
- Pharmaceutical Manufacturer Payments and Opioid Prescribing Patterns in New York State
- Prescription Cost Analysis, England 2018
- A Pan-Canadian Analysis of Prescription Drug Insurance Coverage (2017)
- Pan-Canadian Trends in the Prescribing of Opioids and Benzodiazepines, 2012 to 2017
- Trends in Retail Prices of Brand Name Prescription Drugs Widely Used by Older Americans: 2...
- America's Opioid Epidemic And its Effect on the Nation's Commercially-Insured Population
- Narcotic Drugs Report 2018
- Opioid-Related Harms in Canada (December 2018)
- Trends in Retail Prices of Prescription Drugs Widely Used by Older Americans: 2006 to 2015
- Trends in Retail Prices of Prescription Drugs Widely Used by Older Americans, 2006 to 2013
- Narcotic Drugs Report 2017
- Opioid-Related Harms in Canada (September 2017)
Statistics on "Opioid use in the U.S."
- Percentage of illicit drug use in global population by drug type 2017
- Number of illicit drug users in the world by drug type 2017* (in thousands)
- Number of opioid users worldwide from 2015 to 2017, by region (in millions)
- Distribution of fentanyl consumption globally in 2017, by country
- Distribution of morphine consumption globally by region in 2017
- Consumption of major opium alkaloids and their derivatives worldwide from 2013 to 2017 (in kilograms)
- Manufacture of opium alkaloids and their derivatives worldwide from 2013 to 2017, by type (in kilograms)
- Percentage of U.S. adults who ever heard of opioids as of 2017
- Percentage of adults in the U.S. who blamed select sources for the opioid problem in the U.S. as of 2017
- Share of individuals who find it easy to obtain heroin in the United States from 2002 to 2018
- Reported high availability of heroin in the U.S. in 2010 and 2017, by region
- Perception of great risk from heroin use in the United States from 2002 to 2018, by intake frequency
- Costs due to abuse of tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs, and prescription opioids in the United States as of 2017
- Number of individuals who consumed heroin during the past year in the United States from 2002 to 2018 (in 1,000)
- Number of individuals who consumed heroin during the past year in the United States from 2002 to 2018, by age (in 1,000)
- Number of individuals with a heroin dependence or abuse during the past year in the United States from 2002 to 2018, by age (in 1,000)
- Number of individuals taking heroin for the first time in the United States from 2002 to 2018 (in 1,000)*
- Number of individuals taking heroin for the first time in the United States from 2002 to 2018, by age (in 1,000)*
- Consumption of major opium alkaloids and their derivatives in the U.S. from 2013 to 2017 (in kilograms)
- Top controlled prescription drugs distributed in the United States from 2014 to 2017 (in billions of dosage units)
- Percentage of U.S. adults who consumed opioids in the last 2 years as of 2017
- Percentage of adults in the U.S. who personally know someone that abuses opioids as of 2017, by age
- Share of main reasons for consumption of opioids among U.S. adults as of 2017
- Distribution of adults in the U.S. with long-term opioid prescriptions between 2006 to 2015, by pain type
- Number of patients with at least one opioid prescription in the U.S. from 2014 to 2017
- Number of annual opioid prescriptions in the U.S. from 2014 to 2017
- Rate of opioid prescriptions dispensed in the U.S. in 2017, by state and type (per 100 persons)*
- Number of overdose deaths from heroin in the U.S. from 1999 to 2017
- Death rate from heroin overdose in the U.S. from 1999 to 2017 (per 100,000 population)
- Heroin overdose death rate in the U.S. in 2016 and 2017, by age (per 100,000 population)
- Heroin overdose death rate in the U.S. in 2016 and 2017, by ethnicity (per 100,000 population)
- Heroin overdose death rate in the United States in 2017, by state (per 100,000 population)
- Opioid overdose death rate in the United States in 2017, by state (per 100,000 population)
- U.S. death rate from prescription opioid overdose in 2015 and 2016, by gender (per 100,000 population)
- U.S. death rate from prescription opioid overdose in 2015 and 2016, by age (per 100,000 population)
- U.S. death rate from prescription opioid overdose in 2015 and 2016, by ethnicity (per 100,000 population)
- Percentage of adults in the U.S. who felt select substances were a serious problem in their community in 2016 and 2018
- Share of U.S. adults who believed it would be easy to get opioids/painkillers in their community without needing them for medical reasons 2018
- Percentage of U.S. adults who felt their community was not doing enough to combat opioid addiction in select ways as of 2018
- Which of the following are barriers to effectively combating the opioid epidemic?
- Do you support or oppose increased funding for research to better understand and combat opioid addiction?
- Do you agree or disagree that the opioid epidemic has negatively impacted local economies and job growth?
- Percentage of U.S. adults who believed a person addicted to opioids had this problem for select reasons as of 2018
- Percentage of U.S. adults who would be willing to have select relationships with a person addicted to opioids as of 2018
- Opinion of U.S. adults on the expression of "opioid epidemic" for widespread use of opioids as of 2017
- Number of dosage units of opioids sold to retail level purchasers in the U.S. from 2006 to 2017 (in billions of dosage units)
- Number of opioid narcotics dosage units diverted from the legal market in the U.S. from 2010 to 2017 (in millions)
- Percentage of U.S. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with prescribed selected medications for service-related injury as of 2018*
- Percentage of high school seniors in the U.S. who used OxyContin from 2002 to 2018
- Potential fentanyl profitability compared to heroin in the U.S. as of 2017
- Percentage of Canadians who had select experiences with opioids in the last five years as of 2017, by province
- Percentage of Canadians who felt the opioid issue in Canada was a serious problem as of 2017, by age
- Death rate from drug poisonings involving opioids among men in the U.S. from 1999 to 2015 (per 100,000 population)
- Prescription opioid overdose death rate in the U.S. from 2000 to 2017 (per 100,000 population)
- Percentage of Canadians who knew a friend or family member with select experiences with opioids as of 2019
- Percentage of U.S. adults using prescription opioid analgesics in the past 30 days beetween 2007 and 2012, by characteristics*
- Percentage of U.S. adults using prescription opioid analgesics in the past 30 days beetween 2007 and 2012, by gender and age*
- Percentage of U.S. adults using prescription opioid analgesics in the past 30 days beetween 1999 and 2012
- Number of fatalities caused by methadone overdoses in Australia from 2007 to 2016
- Number of fatalities caused by heroin overdoses in Australia from 2007 to 2016
- Rate of patients with at least one opioid prescription in the U.S. 2017, by age (per 100 persons)*
- Number of fatalities caused by natural and semi-synthetic opioid overdoses in Australia from 2007 to 2016
- Percentage of persons with at least one opioid prescription in the U.S. 2014 to 2017
- Number of fatalities caused by synthetic opioid overdoses in Australia from 2007 to 2016
- Percentage of U.S. adults using prescription opioid analgesics in the past 30 days beetween 1999 and 2012, by strength*
- Percentage of total U.S. population with 3 or more prescriptions within past month in periods between 1988 and 2014*
- Percentage of U.S. population with three or more prescriptions within past month in periods between 1988 and 2014, by gender*
- Percentage of U.S. population with 5 or more prescriptions within past month in periods between 1988 and 2014, by gender*
- Percentage of U.S. population with 5 or more prescriptions within past month in periods between 1988 and 2014, by age group*
- Percentage of total U.S. population with usage of prescription drugs within past month in periods between 1988 and 2014*
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