How can virtual reality interventions help reduce prescription opioid drug misuse?

The recent death from a heroin overdose of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman at the age of 46 highlights the danger of opioid addiction. However, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, prescription opioids such as OxyContin, Percocet, and Vicodin may be gateway drugs for heroin addiction and are responsible for five times as many deaths. ‘‘The main driver of overdoses right now in our country is from opioid medications, more than from heroin,’’ said Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).1 Prescription drug overdose rates have more than tripled since 1990, paralleling a 300% increase in sales of strong prescription opioids