About one in three Americans used prescription opioid painkillers like OxyContin or Vicodin in 2015, according to a survey released by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, NBC News reported.
The NIDA study calculated 91.8 million Americans used prescription opioids, with nearly five percent of adults surveyed saying they took them without their doctor’s permission.
“The most commonly reported sources were friends and relatives for free,” the study reported. “Or a physician.”
Also Monday, a presidential opioid commission chaired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie released an interim report that said the U.S. "is enduring a death toll equal to September 11th every three weeks." The report urged President Donald Trump to "declare a national emergency."
The commission suggested expanding treatment facilities across the country, educating doctors about the proper way to prescribe pain medication, equipping all police officers with the anti-overdose remedy naloxone, developing new fentanyl detection sensors, and improving data-sharing among law enforcement agencies.
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