The Geography of Opiate Addiction, Overdose, and Treatment in Tennessee

Opioid addiction and overdose has become a national epidemic in the United States over the past 30 years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 20,000 Americans died from prescription drugs alone in 2014. Tennessee ranks especially high in the number of opioid prescriptions and overdoses when compared to the rest of the US. The Volunteer State is one of only 13 where doctors issued between 96-143 opioid prescriptions per 100 people. This project maps opiate prescription rates and overdose death rates in Tennessee to identify trends in the geospatial, socioeconomic, and demographic makeup of victims, and plots the locations of opiate-addiction treatment centers to assess their accessibility in hotspots of opiate abuse.

While the opioid epidemic has plagued all of Tennesseans, the data proves that four counties in a fairly isolated and depressed area in the northeastern region have been significantly affected and have few options for meaningful detox and treatment programs. Our queen’s method hotspot analysis in ArcMap reveals that 4 adjacent counties – Anderson, Campbell, Knox, and Union – saw the highest rate of prescriptions written and the highest rate of overdose deaths. Outpatient and office-based opiate abuse treatment facilities exist across the region, but they are spatially limited, have low capacities, and offer minimal support. The closest inpatient facilities are located only in cities such as Knoxville, Kingsport, and Johnson City, the closest of which can be over an hour away for some residents along the fringes of the region.