Article by Anthony Gregory
Britain is in the grip of an opioid epidemic, experts have warned, after an investigation by the Sunday Times exposed a huge rise in prescriptions of powerful painkillers and soaring addiction rates, overdoses and deaths.
Senior doctors, drug specialists and MPs warned last night that the UK is hurtling towards a US-style crisis. There, super-strength painkillers have killed more than 91,000 people in the past two years.
Escalating numbers of Britons are being given the highly addictive drug for chronic pain, despite evidence that they are ineffective after more than a few days.
Prescriptions have increased by 29% in 10 years, overdoses by 89% and deaths by 41%.
There are growing fears that prescribing has got out of control. It is 4 x higher in the north of England than in London and there are 3 times more deaths.
The number of opiods dished out by GPs has risen by 10m in a decade. Doctors prescribed 41.4 m in 2017, the equivalent of 79 pill packs a minute.