Eighty percent of the world’s supply of opioid medications is used in the United States, in a country with only 4.6 percent of the world’s population.This reveals the opportunity for both tremendous therapeutic advances using these medications, often simply called prescription painkillers, to address pain and suffering, as well as the potential for abuse.
This quandary-that these medications are the best and basically the only available medications for moderate to severe pain and are highly reinforcing and potentially addicting-has driven clinical decision-making and government policy throughout U.S. history.
