The number of prescription for opioids filled on Long Island has dropped amid state efforts to curb the opioid crisis. But more Long Islanders now turn to illegal drugs such as heroin.
Long Island health professionals wrote over 600,000 prescriptions last year for painkillers like oxycodone, a significant drop from the one million prescribed in 2015.
The drop is attributed to crackdowns on doctors who prescribe painkillers to addicts and dealers. Experts also credit New York State’s I-STOP, a database that tracks over-prescriptions from doctors and pharmacies.
But health officials report an increase in the number of overdoses from fentanyl-laced heroin.
Nearly 500 people on Long Island died from opioid overdoses in 2016; just over one-fifth of those deaths were from prescription painkillers.
