Safe in 60: Utah’s opioid crisis

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Drug overdoses kill more people in Utah each year than motor vehicle crashes and gun accidents guns combined.

In fact, two-thirds of our overdose deaths in Utah are from prescription pain medication.  The other one-third is from illicit narcotics such as heroin – at an alarming rate of 10 people a week in Utah

Physical dependency to these types of medication can develop in as soon as seven days.

Addiction is a disease and needs to be treated. Please talk to your kids about the dangers of dependency and addiction.

Eighty percent of heroin users started with prescription opioids. Utah pharmacies fill 7,000 opioid prescriptions each day in Utah.

Make sure and use prescriptions only as directed by a doctor and dispose of the medication as soon as it is no longer needed for pain. Unlike antibiotics, they don’t need to be taken until gone.

There are drop boxes for unused and expired medications at all Intermountain Healthcare pharmacies, University of Utah Healthcare pharmacies or you can watch for the next Utah Take Back program.

Never share your prescription and always keep opioids in a safe place away from children

If you or someone you know is developing a substance abuse problem, don’t wait. Please reach out – there are a number of resources out there to help.

It’s important to note – an opioid overdose is reversible with timely administration of Naloxone. For more information about available resources for abuse prevention, treatment and administering of Naloxone please see the following websites:

Utah Naloxone   www.utahnaloxone.org

Stop the Opidemic  www.opidemic.org