The prescription opioid epidemic is shrinking the time it used to take drug users to progress to drug injection, a new Keck School of Medicine of USC-led study suggests.
The study may predict the next national public health threat related to prescription painkiller abuse, said Ricky Bluthenthal, lead author of the study and a professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine.
“The prescription opioid epidemic is creating a heroin epidemic, which will create an injection drug use epidemic,” Bluthenthal said. “We’ve seen the first two. Now…