Credit: Indiana University
In response to the increase in opioid overdose deaths in the United States, many states have implemented supply-controlling and harm-reduction policy measures aimed at reducing those deaths. But a recent study from Indiana University found the policies may have had the unintended consequence of motivating those with opioid use disorders to switch to alternative illicit substances, leading to higher overdose mortality. Literature from public health to social sciences has presented mixed and contradictory findings on the impact of opioid policies on various opioid adverse outcomes, said Byungkyu Lee, assistant professor of sociology at IU and co-author of the study. Our findings suggest that the so-called opioid paradox the rise of opioid-related deaths despite declines in opioid prescriptions may arise from the success, not the failure, of state interventions to control opioid prescriptions.