Opioids

Prescription (Rx) drugs can be effective in treating medical conditions when taken correctly. However, these are powerful drugs that when taken incorrectly can lead to addiction and serious health issues.

WHAT ARE OPIOIDS?

Opioids are the category of prescription drugs that include pain medications, heroin, and synthetic pain medication such as Fentanyl. Opioids should be prescribed by a medical doctor. These medications are used to treat extreme pain such as the pain following a major surgery or the pain felt by cancer patients.

COMMON NAMES

HOW ARE OPIOIDS ABUSED?

• Taking another person’s medication.

• Taking a larger quantity than prescribed.

• Taking medication to get high.

• Taking the drug for a longer time than prescribed.

• Mixing medication with alcohol and other drugs.

HEALTH RISKS

• High body temperature

• Slows breathing and slows heart rate to dangerous levels.

• Seizures

• Addiction

• Sudden death from overdose

• More people die from an opioid overdose than all other drugs combined.

• Overdose deaths involving prescription opioids were five times higher in 2016 than in 1999.

OPIOIDS IN HAWAII

• More than 2 million Americans are addicted to opioid prescription medications.

• In 2019, 14.4% of Hawaii high school students ever took prescription pain medication without a doctor’s prescription or differently than how a doctor told them to use it.

LAWS IN HAWAII

Currently there is a 7-day limit on how long an initial prescription for opioid prescriptions can be written. Prescriptions can be written for longer periods of time under specific circumstances for things such as cancer or palliative care.

Sources: NIDA Community Drug Alert Bulletin on Club Drugs; Drug Enforcement Administration; National Survey on Drug Use and Health; www.drugabuse.gov; www.streetdrugs.org; 4rehabilitation.com; Partnership for a Drug-Free America; Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN): National Estimates of Drug-Related Emergency Department Visits; CDC.gov, YRBS 2019, Monitoring the Future Survey, 2019.