This academic paper provides an overview of the evolution of the opioid crisis framed as an epidemic of opioid addiction through overprescribing. Prevention strategies are discussed across three levels: preventing new cases of opioid addiction (primary prevention), identifying early cases of opioid addiction (secondary prevention), and ensuring access to effective addiction treatment (tertiary prevention).
Kolodny, A., Courtwright, D. T., Hwang, C. S., Kreiner, P., Eadie, J. L., Clark, T. W., & Alexander, G. C. (2015). The Prescription Opioid and Heroin Crisis: A Public Health Approach to an Epidemic of Addiction. Annual Review of Public Health, 36(1), 559–574. doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031914-122957