INDIANA – Today, 31 August, is International Overdose Awareness Day.
The addiction crisis is not only killing Hoosiers and costing the state billions but also damaging future generations of Hoosiers.
Almost one in 10 young people 18-25 years old reported nonmedical use of prescription pain medication in the past year. One in 20 adolescents, ages 12-17 years, reported misuse of prescription pain medication in the past year as well.
Indiana also has one of the nation’s largest increases in children being removed from their homes due to family drug use. In 2016, more than 50 percent of cases of children removed from their homes by the Indiana Department of Child Services were due to drug or alcohol use by a parent a rate that rose more than 50 percent since 2013. Children with an addicted family member are four times more likely to misuse drugs or alcohol.
Hoosier children are becoming more at risk for developing addictions at a younger age. Researchers recently reported that the rates for neonatal abstinence syndrome, which occurs in newborns exposed to opioids while in the womb, and maternal opioid use have increased nearly five-fold in the United States between 2000 and 2012, with disproportionately larger increases in rural areas. More and more babies are being born with illnesses that will impact them far into the future.
Overall, drug overdose deaths rose from 2019 to 2021 with more than 106,000 drug overdose deaths reported in 2021 nationwide.
The addiction crisis continues to have a devastating effect across the state of Indiana. Nearly one in 12 Hoosiers, almost a half million people, meet the criteria for having a substance use disorder. People are dying, those who need help often can’t get the treatment they need, and the well-being of future generations is under threat. Addiction is one of the largest problems the state faces.
Drug overdoses in Indiana have nearly doubled since 2010, growing from 923 to 1,809 in 2017. Approximately 4,000 Hoosiers have died from opioids in the last decade.
Indiana’s drug-induced mortality rate quadrupled between 2000 and 2014. More Hoosiers now die from drug overdoses than car crashes.
Between 2012 and 2016, deaths related to synthetic opioids in Indiana increased by more than 600 percent.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl) continued to rise with 70,601 overdose deaths nationwide in 2021.
Overall, drug overdose deaths rose from 2019 to 2021 with more than 106,000 drug overdose deaths reported in 2021. Deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl) continued to rise with 70,601 overdose deaths reported in 2021.
There were 106,699 drug-involved overdose deaths reported in the U.S. in 2021; 69% of cases occurred among males.
Synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl) were the main driver of drug overdose deaths with a nearly 7.5-fold increase from 2015 to 2021.
Drug overdose deaths involving any prescription opioids (including natural and semi-synthetic opioids and methadone), other synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl), and heroin continued to rise through 2021 with 80,411 deaths.
More than 70% of deaths occurred among males (Figure 3). From 2020 to 2021, the number of deaths involving prescription opioids remained steady (Figure 4).
Overdose deaths involving heroin have trended down since 2016 with 9,173 deaths reported in 2021. Nearly 75% of overdose deaths in 2021 involving heroin also involved synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl).
Drug overdose deaths involving stimulants, cocaine, or psychostimulants with abuse potential (primarily methamphetamine) have significantly increased since 2015 from 12,122 to 53,495 in 2021.
Since 2015, the number of deaths involving psychostimulants with abuse potential (primarily methamphetamine) has risen significantly each year with 32,537 deaths in 2021. The number of deaths involving cocaine has also increased steadily since 2015 with 24,486 deaths reported in 2021.
Benzodiazepines or antidepressants were involved in 12,499 deaths in 2021 steadily increasing since 2015. The proportion of deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl) has increased significantly since 2015. Of the 8,791 deaths involving benzodiazepines in 2015, 20% also involved fentanyl.
In 2021, this proportion increased to 70% of all deaths involving benzodiazepines. Antidepressant-involved deaths have also risen steadily, driven by fentanyl, with 5,859 deaths reported in 2021.
Hoosiers who want to stop using drugs are faced not only with the challenge of physical withdrawal but also with poor access to treatment, particularly medication-assisted treatment, the evidence-based standard for opioid treatment. Treatment that is available is often costly or far from home. Some areas of the state have no addiction treatment at all.
Over the past 15 years, opioid use has cost the state more than $43 billion in direct and indirect costs. The figure in 2017 was $4.3 billion, nearly $11 million a day. Non-lethal opioid overdoses cost over $224 million in hospitalization costs in 2016 alone, with an additional $297 million in other opioid-related hospital stays. Every day the addiction crisis is taking money away from Hoosiers.
If an individual is in need of an opioid treatment facility, please click here and contact the opioid treatment facility in your area.
Community Resources
- Families Helping Families: Hear from Hoosier families who have lost loved ones to a substance use disorder and what they are doing to help other families cope with this disease.
- In This Together: Through a partnership with the Indianapolis Coalition for Patient Safety, this project aims to create conversation around addiction, treatment and recovery, harm prevention, and hope for our communities. Videos, along with a discussion guide and survey, are available for download.
- ECHO: A movement to connect local primary care teams with interdisciplinary specialist teams to improve treatment for complex and chronic health conditions. ECHO programs include Hepatitis C, HIV, LGBTQ+, Opioid Use Disorder, Child and Adolescent Mental Health, and Integrated Pain Management.
- Talking to adolescents about opioids: Zachary Adams and his colleagues in the IU School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry teamed up with experts at Overdose Lifeline and the IUPUI School of Informatics and Computing to create a set of developmentally tailored educational materials designed to help young people learn about opioids and opioid use disorder.
- Be Well Indiana: Information and resources compiled by the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction are designed to help Hoosiers stay connected and maintain their well-being.
- Overdose Lifeline: Overdose Lifeline is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping individuals, families, and communities affected by the disease of substance use disorder. The organization offers multiple services including Naloxone training.
