Prescription opioid use grew in B.C. ahead of overdose crisis: study
VANCOUVER — The number of people using prescription opioids long-term in British Columbia was growing at a “silent but steady” rate for years before the current overdose crisis erupted, a new study has found.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia show that between 2005 and 2012, there was a steady increase in the use of prescription opioids for treatment periods lasting three months or longer, excluding cancer treatment or end-of-life care.
Kate Smolina, a medical researcher and the study’s primary author, said the percentage of long-term opioid users in B.C. jumped from two per cent of the total population to 2.4 per cent within that eight-year period. That’s a jump of only 0.4 percentage points, but a relative spike of 19 per cent.
“Two per cent may sound like it’s not very much, but it’s actually quite a bit. In B.C., it translates to about 100,000,” Smolina said.