Treating Pain — The Stats

In a recent Consumer Reports article on pain, “Prince’s Death and the Addiction Risk of Opioids,” Teresa Carr writes, “In fact, as many as one out of four taking a prescribed opioid for several months or longer becomes addicted, according to the CDC.”

Carr doesn’t provide a reference, so I’m not sure where she found this statistic. In fact, the statistic is untrue.

Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, cites in the New England Journal of Medicine a different statistic: approximately 8 percent of people exposed to opioids over a long term become addicted.