Rise in prescription opioid use under public drug scheme

The estimated consumption of opioid pain medication under the General Medical Services scheme increased by more than 10% between 2018 and 2025, according to a new RTÉ Investigates analysis of HSE data.

Approximately 1.5 million people, or around 30% of the population, are eligible for the General Medical Services (GMS) scheme, the country's main community drug scheme.

Between 2018 and 2025, the State spent €316m on opioid prescriptions across the GMS and two other community drug schemes: the Long Term Illness (LTI) scheme and the Drugs Payment Scheme (DPS). Most of this expenditure, €271m, was through the GMS.

Data released to RTÉ Investigates under Freedom Of Information shows that more than 17m opioid prescriptions were recorded under the three schemes during this period. Of these, 15m were recorded under the GMS.