Prescription Drug Overdose: State Health Agencies Respond

This report presents health agency leadership perspectives from nine states on how prescription drug overdose has emerged as a national health problem. It also shows the awareness of the problem, which prevention and monitoring strategies have shown promise, and the infrastructure, technology, prevention, partnership, and leadership required to combat comprehensively and to reverse this rising trend.

Since 1999, abuse, misuse, and overdose prescription drugs have significantly increased. Each year more than 20,000 persons in the United States.