Morphine Addiction Statistics

Morphine addiction affects more than one person, one family, or even one community. It is a national concern because — in the U.S. alone — the price tag for addition to morphine is upward of $500 billion in healthcare costs, crime and criminal justice costs, accidents and lost employment.

Prescription Abuse Statistics

As with many prescription medications, finding the correct dosage takes experimentation and time. Even if a person is under a physician’s care, it takes diligence to ensure that a person does not cross the line from medically necessary treatment to morphine abuse.When reporting use and abuse findings about morphine, these statistics usually reflect the larger category of all prescribed medications. Some of the statistics are alarming:

• The increase of people who use prescribed pain relievers, including morphine, is on the rise. In 2006, over 5 million people were using prescribed pain relievers; an increase of half a million from the previous years. If predictive statistics hold the trend, this number of users is expected to increase significantly.
• While the rate of teen users has slightly decreased over the years, of the teen users who are using prescribed medications that are NOT prescribed for them, almost 60 percent indicate that they obtained the drugs from friends or from an unknowing relative.
• About twice as much is spent on medical and worker compensation claims for employed drug abusers versus their drug-free colleagues.
• While not restricted to just morphine abuse, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that as many as 22 percent of car crashes involved drivers who have been using drugs.

Morphine Specific Abuse Statistics

While prescription medications have startling morphine abuse statistics, the following statistics are directly connected to morphine addiction:

• The increase of emergency room visits due to heroin has increased as much as 15 percent.
• Morphine was ranked as third leading drug-related cause for emergency room admissions, right behind an alcohol/drug combination and cocaine abuse.
• Persons who were injecting opiates averaged 14 years of use before entering treatment for the first time.

Get Help for Morphine Addiction

Recovering from morphine with proper medical supervision and support services is possible. If you or someone you know is addicted to morphine, call our toll free number today at 678-251-3189. We are available 24 hours a day to answer any questions you might have about morphine addiction treatment. We are here to help.