Opioid prescriptions in Connecticut were down by 14 percent in 2017 compared to the previous year, and they have fallen by nearly 17 percent since 2014, according to the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP).
Utilizing data from the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, the DCP said that physicians wrote 2.16 million opioid prescriptions in 2017, down from nearly 2.52 million prescriptions in 2016.
“We know that there is an incredible amount of work that needs to be done to combat the opioid crisis, but the decline in opioid prescriptions is encouraging,” said Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull.
Prescriptions for benzodiazepine, normally prescribed to treat seizures, anxiety and panic disorders, also decreased last year by more than 4 percent.
The most commonly prescribed controlled substance in 2017 was alprazoram, marketed commercially as Xanax, with 588,328 prescriptions ”“ down from 593,345 in 2016, when it also topped the “most prescribed” list.
