Drug Deaths Increase Among Middle-Aged, White Missourians
Key Findings
Missouri is the only state in the nation without a prescription drug monitoring program.
The human toll of the opioid crisis in Missouri has been extensive, with 12,585 drug-induced overdose deaths in the state since 1999.
During the same period, the age-adjusted rate of drug-induced deaths in Missouri increased by 247%.
Similar to recent national studies, drug-induced deaths in Missouri have been most impactful to the middle-aged non-Hispanic white population.
Drug-induced mortality caused more than three-quarters of the 11% increase in the overall mortality rates for white males ages 25 to 54 in Missouri since 1999.
75% of new heroin users report that their addiction began by abusing prescription opioids that can typically be tracked by a PDMP.
43% of hospital patients with a heroin overdose death in 2016 had a history of hospital utilization for prescription opioid abuse during the previous four years.
