By Cecilia Chan

Independent Newsmedia

With over two people a day dying from an opioid overdose in Arizona — the majority of it from prescription painkillers, state health officials have published updated guidelines for dispensing the highly addictive drugs for acute and chronic pain.

Prescription opioids are used routinely in Arizona, with over 205 million opioid pills prescribed between January and July 2017, enough for every resident to have a 30-pill supply, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

In addition to overdose deaths, there are many times those numbers of nonfatal opioid overdoses reported, along with daily reports of suspected newborns exposed to addictive opiate drugs, the department said.

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