A Prescription for Change in Delaware

Prescription medications contribute to the opioid epidemic. You can change that.

Patterns of opioid prescribing, including dose, duration, quantity, co-prescribing, and patient risk factors, are major determinants of whether a person becomes dependent on or addicted to opioids. The prescribing of opioids for pain, as well as the abundance of these dangerous drugs in our medicine cabinets and communities, is significantly driving the opioid epidemic. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), nearly 10 million Americans age 12 or older have misused pain reliever medication within the past year (National Survey of Drug Use and Health, 2018).

In 2017, Delaware issued new regulations for safer opioid prescribing and better pain management practices, supporting the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain — United States, 2016 . The state’s Addiction Action Committee (AAC) guided the development of this page.