Oregon has the highest rate in the nation of senior hospitalized for opioid-related issues like overdose, abuse and dependence.

With a framed photograph of a smiling man, Deb Royal, the chief of staff with the Oregon secretary of state, told the story of how her 29-year-old nephew died after an opioid overdose.

It was an emotional plea to recognize the state of the opioid crisis in Oregon and beyond.

Royal then introduced the new audit conducted by the Oregon Secretary of State shows that opioid addiction has impacted both young and old. The audit found:

Oregon has the highest rate in the nation of seniors hospitalized for opioid-related issues like overdose, abuse and dependence.

In teens, Oregon has the sixth highest percentage of teenage drug users.

In 2016, almost 500 pregnancies were complicated by opioid use, according to the audit, and 280 infants were born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome.

In just a three-year span, from 2015-2017, 314 children were entered into foster care in Oregon due to their parents’ drug abuse.

Dependence on prescription opioids can occur in less than one week and taking a low dose prescription of an opioid for more than three months raises that ride of addiction 15-fold, according to the study.

A total of 12 recommendations are made that largely include the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, which is utilized in all 50 states, but is not used to its fullest extent in Oregon due to legislative obstacles.

The PDMP is a database which collects information of when an opioid prescription is written.

Oregon is one of nine states that does not require prescribers to use the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program before opioids are prescribed. The study suggests that using this database could help reduce instances of doctor shopping or using multiple pharmacies, as well as dangerous drug combinations prescribed to Oregonians.

Legislative obstacles keep Oregon from sharing information with key stake holders like law enforcement to try and curb possible opioid abuse.

The study recommended 12 concrete steps for the Oregon Health Authority to take. During a Tuesday press conference, auditor Jamie Rawls said that the OHA agreed with all the recommended steps in the audit, however due to legislative restrictions he could not enact all of them to the fullest extent.

The suggestions made by the auditors are expected to be cost neutral.

You can read the full audit here: