The existence of an opioid drug abuse and addiction problem in the United States is no secret, although the scale of this problem may be less well known. From 1999 to 2014, more than 165,000 persons died from overdose related to opioid pain medication in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC"). Many more lives are affected by abuse that falls short of deadly overdose: estimates put the number of those abusing prescription opioids at two million. This trend shows no sign of slowing down: opioids (more than half of them prescription drugs) were involved in over 28,000 deaths in 2014, and according to several reports the artist formerly and forever known as Prince became yet another victim of such addiction. It is being reported that the singer--or one of Prince's representatives on his behalf--contacted Dr. Howard Kornfeld, an opioid addiction treatment expert from California, the day before he died.

The problem of opioid addiction is not one that has passed unremarked. The Guardian published an article on the problem of opioid addiction in Appalachia on the same day this article was written. The issue has been on the radar of the Obama administration for some time. The administration announced in October 2015 newly mandated training related to the appropriate use of the drugs for federal employees involved in the prescribing of controlled substances. In February 2016, President Obama proposed $1.1 billion in new funding meant to address this epidemic. In March 2016, the CDC proposed its new Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain, United States, 2016, which generally advocates the lowest dose of pain medication for the shortest period of time.

Originally published in the Birmingham Medical News.