Voices for Non-Opioid Choices (“Voices”) is a nonpartisan coalition dedicated to preventing opioid addiction before it starts by increasing patient and provider access to non-opioid therapies and approaches to manage acute pain.
Acute pain patients often receive powerful, addictive medications to manage their pain. The surgical setting, in particular, has become a potential path to long-term opioid abuse in America.
Every year, 3.75 million or 9.2% of patients go on to long-term opioid use after a low-risk surgery (e.g. inguinal hernia repair, knee arthroscopy.)1
80 Pills is the average number of opioid pills prescribed to patients after orthopedic surgery, whether they need them or not.2
Overdose deaths involving prescription opioids nearly increased by five times from 1999 to 20201.
80 percent of heroin users began by abusing prescription pain medications.4
