Nearly 100 Massachusetts nurses have either sought or been sent to a state-run substance abuse program in the last two years, including some who were suspected of swiping drugs, according to state data that helps illustrate the reach of the state’s opioid epidemic, even into the world of health care.

The data, obtained by the Herald from the Department of Public Health, shows as many as 163 nurses were enrolled in the Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Program through the state’s board of nursing as of late March. Of those, 93 were admitted in 2014 and 2015 alone, some by referring themselves but others following complaints or by their employers.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association also runs its own program separate from the state’s that seeks to connect members with 25 or so peer assistants who are nurses themselves. The MNA’s Carol Mallia said the union gets on average two to five referrals a month, numbers that have remained steady even as the statewide opioid crisis has exploded in other sectors.

The so-called “non-disciplinary” state-run program is intended to connect nurses battling alcohol abuse or addiction with treatment before getting them back to work. But as the state grapples with a scourge of prescription pills and heroin, experts say it shows those on the front lines in health care aren’t immune to it, either.

“Nursing is one of those professions where there’s a high risk for substance use, where nurses can get injured on the job, and they have a skill set of working with narcotics. Sometimes that can get away from them,” Mallia said.

“I’ve always felt like we scratch the tip of the iceberg — this is a problem that nurses live in seclusion with,” she said. “We try to get the word out that this is a disease and there are resources. And don’t let it affect your practice.”

Under the state-run program, dubbed SARP, nurses aren’t allowed to practice for the first year of the five-year program, plus at least another three months after they return to work. Officials say about 60 percent of the nurses who start the program ultimately finish.

The state board of pharmacy, meanwhile, has 18 health professionals going through its own Professional Recovery System, which is open to dentists, physician assistants, pharmacists and others. Also a five-year program, it admitted seven people during the past two years.

Roughly one-third each year enter with drug or alcohol problems, and of the 120 doctors the program continues to monitor annually, roughly 90 are recovering from substance or alcohol abuse, said Dr. Steven Adelman, the program’s director and an addiction psychiatrist.

“We see people who come to work with alcohol on their breath or the pill count in the pill dispenser is short some controlled substances and they are sent here for suspicion of a problem,” Adelman said. “But the trend that we’re seeing here is actually going in the other direction. We’re getting more self-referrals (roughly 40 percent), where it’s people putting out fires when it’s one alarm or two alarm instead of waiting for it to be nine alarms.”