Prescription Drug Data
THE OPIATE PROBLEM IN THE U.S. AND GEORGIA
HOW BAD IS THE PROBLEM IN FAYETTE COUNTY?
DFF – refers to a survey conducted by Drug Free Fayette in October 2017, via Fayette County School System’s Infinite Campus messenger. Download the results below.
- The United States makes up 4.6% of the world’s population, and consumes 80% of all opiates. (Pain Physician Journal)
- In the United States: drug overdoses killed more people in 2016 in the United States (about 64,000) than guns or car accidents. About ⅔ of all drug-related deaths involve opiates. (National Institute on Drug Abuse)
- 1,307 people in GA died in 2015 from drug overdoses (900 of those from opiates, including heroin). (Substance Abuse Research Alliance)
- Nearly 80% of new heroin users started with nonmedical use of prescription drugs. (New England Journal of Medicine)
- The probability of continued opioid use spikes when patients use opioids for 6 days or more in their initial use (Centers for Disease Control)
HOW BAD IS THE PROBLEM IN FAYETTE COUNTY?
- 81% of Fayette County parents in say they are Concerned or Very Concerned about misuse of prescription drugs potentially growing in Fayette. 41% of teens (8th-12th grade) are Concerned or Very Concerned. (DFF-*)
- Fayette County fatal drug overdose deaths are about 10 per year, but rising significantly since 1999. Coweta fatal drug overdose deaths are about 15 per year, also rising significantly since 1999. (Georgia Dept of Public Health)
- In Peachtree City, the number of times Narcan was administered (as an emergency antidote to opioid overdose), nearly tripled from 2013 to 2016, from 11 to 32. (Peachtree City EMS)
- In 2016, 3.2% of Fayette County 12th graders said they used painkillers without a prescription. This compares to 2.6% for all Georgia 12th graders. In Coweta, this number was 5.6%. (Georgia Student Health Survey)
- 48% of Fayette County parents are Not Sure how easy or difficult it is for teens to get prescription drugs without a prescription. Only 27% of teens (8th-12th grade) are Not Sure. 45% of Fayette County 12th graders say it is Very Easy or Moderately Easy (DFF-*)
- 67% of Fayette county parents (of 8th-12th graders) say they’ve had a conversation with their teen about the risks of prescription drugs. But only 40% of teens say they’ve had that conversation with their parents. (DFF-*)
- 53.7% of people who use prescription drugs without a prescription say they got it from a friend or relative for free. (National Survey on Drug Use and Health)
- 10% of Fayette County parents (of 8th-12th graders) say they lock up their prescription drugs. (DFF-*)
- 15% of Fayette County parents say they take leftover prescription drugs to a drop box or mail it in safely. (DFF-*)
DFF – refers to a survey conducted by Drug Free Fayette in October 2017, via Fayette County School System’s Infinite Campus messenger. Download the results below.
| rxsurvey-youth-results.pdf |
| rxsurvey_-_parents_-_results.pdf |
