The coalition closely monitors the county’s prescription rates and collaborates with medical providers and physicians to promote safer prescribing guidelines locally.
Prescription Opioid Use in Mendocino County
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), individuals who misuse prescription pain killers are 40 times more likely to become addicted to heroin. Prescription opioids are misused when patients take more than prescribed, alter the medication to increase drug potency, and/or use medication that was not prescribed to them.
The chart below shows the opioid prescription rate per 1,000 residents.
Because the potency and number of pills varies by prescription, measuring in morphine milligram equivalents provides a more consistent measure.
The chart below shows the total quantity of opioid medication taken each year, per resident, measured in morphine equivalents.
Resources for Prescribers
Prescription opioids are vitally important to treating pain, but if prescribed inappropriately or misused by patients, opioids can cause serious harm to individuals’ health and wellbeing.
Below is a list of resources and guidelines for physicians and other health care professionals.