Michigan physicians wrote 11M opioid prescriptions in 2016: 5 things to know

Healthcare providers in Michigan wrote 11 million opioid prescriptions in both 2015 and 2016, amounting to more than one prescription for each state resident, according to an analysis of state and federal data conducted by MLive.

Here are five things to know about Michigan's opioid crisis.

1. The 2015 and 2016 opioid prescription totals represent a 41 percent increase in prescriptions from 2009 to 2015. The annual totals also amounts to 835 units of opioids, which is enough to administer 84 opioid doses to every resident in the state.

2. More people in Michigan died from an opioid overdose — including heroin — in 2015 than they did of gunshots or traffic accidents. Opioids killed 1,275 Michiganders in 2015. Guns killed 1,164 people and traffic accidents killed 840 people. 

3. While opioid overdose deaths have increased sharply in Michigan since 2012, deaths related to other drugs have remained largely unchanged, according to MLive.

4. Michigan saw a 21 percent increase in opioid-related inpatient hospital stays between 2009 and 2014. Michigan's increase was just below the national average of 24 percent.

5. Michigan experienced the 15th highest drug overdose death rate in the country in 2015, with 20.4 per 100,000 people in the state dying of a drug overdose.

More articles on opioids: 
STAT projection: Opioid overdoses could kill more than 650k Americans in the next 10 years 
'We can't arrest our way out of it' — Philadelphia DEA agent talks opioid epidemic in Vice documentary 
Alaska lawmakers pass bill to limit opioid pills prescribed

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