USA. How the Reformulation of OxyContin Ignited the Heroin Epidemic
How the Reformulation of OxyContin Ignited the Heroin Epidemic
William N. Evans, Ethan Lieber, Patrick Power
Abstract
We attribute the recent quadrupling of heroin death rates to the August, 2010 reformulation of an oft-abused prescription opioid, Oxycontin. The new abuse-deterrent formulation led many consumers to substitute to an inexpensive alternative, heroin. Using structural break techniques and a difference-in-differences analysis, we find that opioid consumption stops rising in August, 2010, heroin deaths begin climbing the following month, and growth in heroin deaths was greater in areas more likely to substitute from opioids to heroin. The reformulation did not generate a reduction in combinedheroin and opioid mortality—each prevented opioid death was replaced with a heroin death. (01.06.2017, JEL: I12, I18, K42)