Opioid Abuse and Homelessness

The issue of opioid abuse has risen to a level of national crisis as the number of people abusing prescription drugs and heroin has dramatically risen, and the rate of opioid-related overdose deaths has tripled since 2000.2 In 2014, an estimated 2.5 million people had opioid-use disorders (OUD) involving prescription drug or heroin abuse, and opioid-related overdoses were responsible for more than 28,000 deaths.