State Attorney General Lori Swanson issued a sweeping report Tuesday on the toll of opioids in Minnesota, which has seen a rising number of deaths — including pop icon Prince — despite growing warnings about the addictive dangers of both illicit and prescription painkillers.
The report makes a series of recommendations, including requiring doctors to review patients' drug histories before prescribing opioids, reducing the duration of controlled substance prescriptions and expanding access to drug treatment and emergency Narcan that can reverse the effects of an overdose.
"Growing addiction to prescription opioid painkillers is devastating families from all walks of life across all parts of our state," said Swanson, noting that as many as three-fourths of heroin addicts first abused prescription opioids.
Deaths from opioid overdoses spiked from 54 in 2000 to 355 in 2015, according to the state Department of Health.
Prince died April 21 from an overdose of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, amid last-minute efforts to wean him off painkillers.
A Star Tribune review of preliminary state death certificate data for 2016 found 239 deaths caused by opioids through September. The state is on pace to be at or just below the record 2015 death toll.
Swanson's recommendations come as two influential state medical groups complete their own guidelines advising doctors on how to use opioids and when to use alternatives for patients' pain.
The guidelines by the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) and a state Department of Human Services work group are critical, because they address the upstream problem of doctors prescribing opioids for unproven uses, said Dr. Chris Johnson, an ER physician who serves on both groups.