Description/Abstract
The U.S. opioid crisis is the deadliest drug crisis in the nation’s history and is not abating. This brief summarizes what is known about the relationships between opioid misuse, health, healthcare use, and crime. The authors show that the opioid crisis has led to worsening health, increased mortality, increased healthcare use, and modest increases in crime. In addition, the policies designed to curb opioid misuse and its associated harms have had only limited success.
Document Type
Research Brief
Keywords
Opioid Crisis, Population Health, Health Policy
Disciplines
Health Policy | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Substance Abuse and Addiction
Date
3-21-2023
For More Information
Language
English
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Alexandra Punch and Shannon Monnat for edits on previous versions of this brief. This brief is part of a series of briefs summarizing findings from a special issue of the ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science on the social and community consequences of the U.S. opioid crisis.
Recommended Citation
Maclean, J., Mallat, J., Ruhm, C., & Simon, K. (2023). How Has the Opioid Crisis Affected Health, Health Care Use, and Crime in the United States? Lerner Center Population Health Research Brief Series. 212. https://surface.syr.edu/lerner/212
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
