Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health
Population Health Research Brief Series
How Has the Opioid Crisis Affected Health, Health Care Use, and Crime in the United States?
Johanna Catherine Maclean, Justine Mallatt, Christopher J. Ruhm, and Kosali Simon
March 2023
Abstract
The U.S. opioid crisis is the deadliest drug crisis in the nation’s history and is not abating. This brief summarizes what is known about the relationships between opioid misuse, health, healthcare use, and crime. The authors show that the opioid crisis has led to worsening health, increased mortality, increased healthcare use, and modest increases in crime. In addition, the policies designed to curb opioid misuse and its associated harms have had only limited success.