Opioids are an ingredient in many pain-relieving medications. Since they are controlled substances, drug traffickers also sell them illegally. Opioids, both illegal and prescribed, have caused a surge of deaths in the United States in the past two decades. - Every day, approximately 130 Americans lose their life from an opioid overdose. - From 1999 to 2017, 399,230 Americans lost their lives to opioids. - In 2017, 47,600 fatal overdoses occurred in America which involved at least one opioid. - In 2017, doctors issued 191,218,272 opioid prescriptions, a slight decline from the 200,000,000 opioid prescriptions which they issued every year from 2006 to 2016. - Since 2000, the sale of opioid painkillers has skyrocketed by 300%. - About 20% to 30% of people who take prescription opioids misuse them. - 2 million Americans misused prescription opioids for the first time in 2017. - About 10% of people who misuse prescription opioids become addicted to opioids. - Approximately 2.1 million Americans have an opioid use disorder.