Summary
ABSTRACT Prescription opioids have been a key driver of the US opioid crisis, resulting in nearly 500,000 overdose deaths from 1999 to 2019. The US has the highest rate of per capita opioid consumption in the world. Prior to class action lawsuits beginning in 2014, prescription opioids such as oxycodone were marketed by their producers as safe and non-addictive, resulting in a peak dispensing rate of 81.3 prescriptions per 100 Americans in 2012. As a result of these lawsuits there has been an unprecedented release of internal industry documents detailing prescription opioid manufacturers’ effo
