ABOUT OPIOIDS

WHAT ARE OPIOIDS?

Opioids are drugs that help relieve physical pain. A doctor might prescribe opioids after someone has surgery or is in an accident. When people start to use opioids illegally, it is usually because the opioids make them feel calm or high. For years, doctors who prescribed opioids believed that patients in pain could not become addicted to opioids. We now know this was not true. Hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. became addicted to opioids and died.