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SHADAC Researcher Colin Planalp Talks Trends in the Opioid Crisis with the University of Minnesota
March 25, 2019:In a recent interview with the University of Minnesota, SHADAC researcher Colin Planalp provided an overview of recent trends in the nation's evolving opioid crisis, discussing the growth in opioid overdose deaths since 2000, and how Minnesota’s statistics on opioid overdoses compare with the rest of the country.
Story highlights include:
- From 2000-2011 the national opioid overdose death rate nearly quadrupled from 1.0 to 3.7 deaths per 100,000, driven primarily by overdose deaths from natural and semi-synthetic prescription opioid painkillers.
- In 2011, the growth in the death rate from prescription opioid painkillers began to slow, but overdose deaths from illicit drugs began to rise sharply.
- In 2017, the U.S. death rate from synthetic opioids was 9.0 per 100,000 people — nearly twice the rate from heroin (4.9) and more than twice the rate from prescription opioid painkillers (4.4).
- Minnesota has lower opioid overdose death rates than the national average, but the state has followed the general trend in opioid overdose deaths, with steady growth in death rates from prescription opioids since 2000, and rapid growth in overdose death rates from heroin and synthetic opioids since 2010.
Mr. Planalp also discussed SHADAC's ongoing efforts to track data on overdose deaths, noting that recent data signal a potential expansion of the opioid crisis beyond synthetic, natural, and semi-synthetic opioids to include cocaine and methamphetamine.
Read the full interview here, and for more on the opioid overdose data referenced in the interview, visit SHADAC’s State Health Compare.
Suggested Further Reading
New Data on Drug Overdose Deaths Highlight the Need for State-level Analysis
