Truong EI, Kishawi SK, Ho VP, et al. - Due to overdoses, the opioid epidemic claims over 130 lives per day in the United States. Although the literature has a good description of the use of opioids in trauma patients, there remains uncertainty concerning if prescription opioid use is linked with mortality after trauma. Researchers here examined if legally obtained prescription opioid consumption would be positively linked with injury-related deaths in the United States. They used state-level mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Multiple Causes of Death database to compile cross-sectional time-series data and used the US Department of Justice Automated Reports and Consolidated Ordering System Retail Drug Summary reports from 2006 to 2017 to obtain prescription opioid shipping data to each state, with opioids shipped used as a proxy for local opioid consumption. Findings revealed no correlation between amounts of opioids and injury-related mortality, including unintentional deaths, suicides, and homicides. No direct correlation was identified between prescription opioids and injury mortality despite the detrimental effects of the opioid epidemic.