The Crisis

A new Michigan State University study now shows that about one-third of those users become dependent on the drug within one to 12 months, indicating that prior estimates of 20 to 25 percent have been too low.

High school seniors who use heroin commonly use multiple other drugs—and not just opioids, according to a new study.

More funding is needed to address the opioid epidemic that is projected to cost the U.S. economy $200 billion by 2020, says a University of Michigan researcher.

A genome-wide analysis of more than 5,000 opioid users has revealed a gene variant associated with opioid dependence in European-Americans.

NYU’s Holly Hagan, a co-director of the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research and professor at the Rory Meyers College of Nursing, is a nurse and epidemiologist whose research has focused primarily on the infectious disease consequences of substance abuse.

Many opioid abusers switch to heroin because it’s more potent and cheaper. This trend complicates disease prevention because people inject heroin much sooner, potentially resulting in increased risk of injection-related epidemics such as hepatitis C and HIV.

Economic conditions account for less than 10 percent of drug-related fatalities, which have increased by more than 210 percent from 1999 to 2015, according to new research.

Legislatures and hospitals have tightened emergency room prescribing guidelines for opioids, but a new USC study shows that doctor's offices are the main sources of prescription painkillers.

As the health care community moves on multiple fronts to address the opioid crisis, one area that holds promise is in litigation against those who manufacture and distribute prescription opioid drugs, according to a University of Michigan researcher.

The prevailing practice for treating addiction to painkillers led from the physician’s office to the worst man-made epidemic in modern medical history.