The opioid epidemic has become a public health crisis in recent years. Factors that increase the risk of opioid misuse include experiencing physical or social hardships, mental health issues, substance use, and criminal activity. Opioids are both legal and illegal drugs, including prescription medications like oxycodone and hydrocodone as well as heroin. Addiction is driven by biological changes in the body and brain that occur quickly after regular opioid use. Prevention through education is key to addressing this epidemic and reducing stigma around addiction.

1. The Opioid Epidemic:
An Overview
Anyone can become addicted to opioids, but there are some
factors that increase an individual’s risk of opioid misuse.
Many of these factors reflect an individual’s social or physical
environment, and thus are often out of their control.4
- Are treated in the Emergency Department.5
- Work physically demanding jobs, like farming or construction.
- Have been incarcerated.
- Experience social isolation.
- Had adverse childhood experiences.6
- Are treated in the Emergency Department.
- Use other substances, especially other medications.
- Have peers who engage in substance use.
- Are involved in criminal activity.
- Experience a major depressive episode or are hospitalized
for emotional treatment.
Who misuses opioids?
Increased Risk Among Adults Who
Increased Risk Among Youth Who
In recent years, the widespread and tragic misuse of opioids
has become a public health epidemic. In New York state, the
number of opioid overdose deaths in the state doubled from
2010 to 2015 and 1 in 12 New Yorkers report being affected by
opioid use, either directly or indirectly through their imme-
diate family.² In addition, opioid use may be related to other
public health issues such as child maltreatment.²
Opioids can be legal or illegal and are dangerous because
they cause life-threatening respiratory depression.3
Common
opioids are oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, heroin.
Manmade, or synthetic, opioids include a drug called fentanyl,
which can be 100 times more potent than morphine.3
What are opioids?
For more information contact the
Opioid Program Work Team at
www.opioids.cce.cornell.edu
- Within five days of a person being prescribed opioids, the
body and brain can become dependent on this type of drug.
- The addiction drives the person to seek out more opioids.
They may get more prescription opioids from family, friends,
or a doctor; or they may switch to using heroin, because it is
cheaper and easier to access.3
Why do people
misuse opioids?
Addiction is a biological health condition
that should be addressed with the care
and empathy we afford other diseases.
Educate people about the consequences of opioid misuse to
help prevent initiation or aid in recovery.
Speak compassionately and spread awareness about the social
and biological factors that lead to addiction in order to reduce
community stigma of people who use substances.
Act early, because adolescents tend to have a lower perceived
risk of substance use, highlighting the need for early education
about addiction risks.7
What can we do?
Educate
Speak
Act
Fentanyl contributed to nearly 50%
of opioid-related deaths in 2016.
sources
1. “What to Do If You Find a Needle.” SOLID Outreach.
2. “What to Do with Used Sharps in New York.” Safe Needle Disposal.
3. “Injection Drug Use and HIV Risk.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
4. Monnat, Shannon M., and Khary K. Rigg. “The Opioid Crisis in Rural and Small Town
America.” (2018).
5. “Safely Using Sharps (Needles and Syringes) at Home, at Work and on Travel.” U.S.
Food and Drug Administration.
6. “Child Trauma and Opioid Use: Policy Implications.” The National Child Traumatic
Stress Network
7. Rigg, Khary K., Shannon M. Monnat, and Melody N. Chavez. “Opioid-related mortality
in rural America: geographic heterogeneity and intervention strategies.” International
Journal of Drug Policy 57 (2018): 119-129.
Photo by RJ Anderson