One in three Americans take prescription painkillers, a new survey showed Monday – a startling statistic unveiled the same day a presidential opioid commission called for the declaration of a “national emergency.”
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 91.8 million Americans used drugs like OxyContin or Vicodin in 2015, NBC News reported – and nearly 5 percent of adults said they took the drugs without their doctor’s permission.
“The most commonly reported sources were friends and relatives for free,” the study reported. “Or a physician.”
The findings were reported the same day the opioid commission, chaired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, released its first report and recommendations for tackling a plague that claimed more than 15,000 lives in 2015.
The study urged President Donald Trump to “declare a national emergency” and noted “America is enduring a death toll equal to Sept. 11 every three weeks.”
Criminal justice
