Assessing Prevalence of Nonmedically Used Prescription Drug Involvement in Overdose Deaths Through Linkage of State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System and Controlled Substances Monitoring Program Data

Through linkage of fatal overdose and prescription data, we found the prevalence of nonmedical use to be 33% in Tennessee. Increasing education on the dangers of nonmedical use, the importance of safe drug disposal, storage, and only using medications as prescribed is encouraged to reduce improper use as the drug landscape continues to shift.