This infographic encapsulates the prescription drug abuse problem in the United States in an easy-to-read snapshot style using relevant data from various US government sources, while highlighting its seriousness as a national health epidemic. It also informs readers about specific steps they can take to help reverse the nation's increasing trend of prescription drug abuse.

Many readers find it hard to understand a poster or infographic displaying multiple graphs, so I decided to only include one for my competition entry, which shows the strongly increasing trends co-occurring in prescription painkiller sales, deaths, and substance abuse treatment admissions. Various other important facts and dangers in the prescription drug problem are presented not in graph or chart form, but via visual images, icons, numerical and percentage comparisons, and strategic groupings of text and data sets.

All of the information, data sets, and conclusions shown in the infographic submission, including prescription painkiller death rates, usage rates, treatment rates, health care costs, overdose rates, sources of prescription painkillers, and high risk populations and drug categories, are obtained directly from US Government sources, although they may have been separately reported by third party institutions and the media.

References

1. Valarie Honeycutt Spears. Ky. sees rise in overdose deaths from pills obtained in Fla. Lexington Herald-Leader 2009 Apr 12. Available from URL: http://www.kentucky.com/2009/04/12/758845/ky-sees-rise-in-overdose-deaths.htmlExternal Web Site Icon.
2. Cathy McKitrick. Youth’s overdose sends strong message. Salt Lake City Tribune 2011 May 17. Available from URL: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/51689248-78/prescription-drugs-drug-watson.html.cspExternal Web Site Icon.
3. Keith O’Brien. Man fights what son could not. Boston Globe 2008 Jan 12. Available from URL: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/01/12/man_fights_what_son_could_notExternal Web Site Icon/.
4. CDC. Vital Signs: Overdoses of Prescription Opioid Pain Relievers—United States, 1999-2008. MMWR 2011; 60: 1-6
5. National Vital Statistics System. Drug overdose death rates by state. 2008.
6. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Drug Abuse Warning Network: selected tables of national estimates of drug-related emergency department visits. Rockville, MD: Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, SAMHSA; 2010.
7. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Results from the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: volume 1: summary of national findings. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies; 2011. Available from URL: http://oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUH/2k10NSDUH/2k10Results.htm#2.16External Web Site Icon.
8. CDC. Warner M, Chen LH, Makuc DM. Increase in fatal poisonings involving opioid analgesics in the United States, 1999-2006. NCHS Data Brief;22 Sept 2009. Available from URL: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db22.pdf Adobe PDF file.
9. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Substance abuse treatment admissions by primary substance of abuse, according to sex, age group, race, and ethnicity 2009 (Treatment Episode Data Set). (URL: http://wwwdasis.samhsa.gov/webt/quicklink/US09.htm)
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   11. CDC. Overdose deaths involving prescription opioids among Medicaid enrollees-Washington, 2004-2007. MMWR. 2010;59;705-9.
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   13. Alliance of States with Prescription Monitoring Programs. Status of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs). Available from URL: http://www.pmpalliance.org/pdf/pmpstatusmap2011.pdf Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN; http://www.samhsa.gov/data/DAWN.aspx)
   14. Monitoring the Future (MTF; http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/)
   15. National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC; http://www.sgim.org/communities/research/dataset-compendium/national-epidemiologic-survey-on-alcohol-and-related-conditions-nesarc)
   16. National Health Interview Survey (NHIS; http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm)
   17. National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health; http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth)
   18. National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS; http://www.bls.gov/nls/)
   19. National Survey on Drug Use & Health (NSDUH; http://www.samhsa.gov/data/NSDU/2011SummNatFindDetTables/Index.aspx)
   20. Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS; http://wwwdasis.samhsa.gov/webt/newmapv1.htm)
   21. Health Data Community at data.gov (Health Data; http://www.healthdata.gov/)
   22. CDC Vital Signs: Prescription Painkiller Overdoses in the US (http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/PainkillerOverdoses/index.html)
   23. MMWR: Vital Signs: Overdoses of Prescription Opioid Pain Relievers --- United States, 1999--2008
   24. CDC Feature Article: Prescription Painkiller Overdoses in the U.S. (http://www.cdc.gov/features/vitalsigns/painkilleroverdoses/index.html)
   25. National Vital Statistics System, 1999-2008
   26. Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System (ARCOS) of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), 1999-2010
   27. Treatment Episode Data Set, 1999-2009