https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210217134802.htm

"Literature from public health to social sciences has presented mixed and contradictory findings on the impact of opioid policies on various opioid adverse outcomes," said Byungkyu Lee, assistant professor of sociology at IU and co-author of the study. "Our findings suggest that the so-called opioid paradox -- the rise of opioid-related deaths despite declines in opioid prescriptions -- may arise from the success, not the failure, of state interventions to control opioid prescriptions."

Researchers used the National Vital Statics System and Optum Clinformatics DataMart to look at drug overdose mortality data from 50 states and claims data from 23 million commercially insured patients in the U.S. between 2007 and 2018. They then evaluated the prevalence of indicators of prescription opioid abuse, opioid use disorder and overdose diagnosis, and the prescription of medications-assisted treatment and drug overdose deaths before and after implementation of six state-level policies targeting the opioid epidemic.