A push to combat opioid abuse may be bearing fruit in a number of states that have seen reductions in the use of such painkillers by injured workers.
A new study found noticeable reductions in the amount of opioids received by injured workers from 2009 through 2014 in a majority of the 25-state area that was studied.
And six states of those states — Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Texas — saw significant drops in such opioid use, in the range of 20 percent to 31 percent, according to the study issued by the Workers Compensation Research Institute. WCRI based the study on workers' comp claims filed in each state.
The findings come as opioid abuse has reached epidemic levels in the United States, where almost 80 people die of overdoses from either heroin or prescription painkiller medication every day.