Yes, restrictions on prescriptions, meant to stop people from getting hooked and cut down on illegal distribution, plus some crackdowns on pill mills have drive

Yes, restrictions on prescriptions, meant to stop people from getting hooked and cut down on illegal distribution, plus some crackdowns on pill mills have driven people already addicted to cheaper, more available opioids. "Heroin-related deaths more than tripled between 2010 and 2015, with 12,989 heroin deaths in 2015. The largest increase in overdose deaths from 2014 to 2015 was for those involving synthetic opioids (other than methadone), which rose from 5,544 deaths in 2014 to 9,580 deaths in 2015. One of these synthetic opioids, illegally-made fentanyl, drove the increase. It was often mixed with heroin and/or cocaine as a combination product—with or without the user’s knowledge." [0] But the rate of increase for death by prescription opioid has been greater than non-prescription so they are nearly half of all deaths. [0] https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/epidemic/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/epidemic/index.html