In addition, deaths from overdoses of heroin increased 26 percent, accounting for more than 10,500 deaths in 2014.
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The statistics are alarming: 61% of all drug overdose deaths in 2014 are from opioid drugs or heroin, which have been called “chemical cousins”. Because fentanyl is combined with heroin or straight-up sold as fentanyl, the CDC theorizes that “illicit fentanyl-associated deaths might represent an emerging and troubling feature of the rise in illicit opioid overdoses that has been driven by heroin”.
Deaths from overdoses of prescription drugs and heroin continue to be the leading cause of unintentional death for Americans, rising 14% from 2013 to 2014.
These findings indicate that the opioid overdose epidemic is worsening. That’s the most reported in the nation since at least 1970, according to CDC records.
The highest overdose rates were in West Virginia, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Kentucky and Ohio.
Opioid painkillers accounted to get a nine percent increase of departures in 2014 to 813 individuals.
In a newly released report, the federal public health agency said that “more persons died from drug overdoses in the United States in 2014 than during any previous year on record”.
In 2014, more than 47,000 Americans died from drug overdoses – a 14 percent increase over 2013.
Many of these overdoses involved illegally made fentanyl, researchers say.
Heroin deaths also continued to jump, reaching 10,574 that year, up from about 8,000 in 2013. Most heroin usersinitially start by using prescription painkillers.
Limit initiation into opioid misuse and addiction. They said sales of prescription opioids rose by 300 percent since 1999.
The CDC has proposed that doctors prescribe the meds only as a last choice for chronic pain, after first trying non-opioid pain relievers, physical therapy and other options.
Expand access to evidence-based substance use disorder treatment-including Medication-Assisted Treatment-for people who suffer from opioid use disorder. It recommends stricter guidelines for prescribing pain killers, expanded availability and wider access to naloxone, an antidote for opioid-related overdoses. It suggested public health agencies, medical examiners and coroners, and law-enforcement agencies work collaboratively to improve the detection of these outbreaks through improved investigation and testing.
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The CDC is now in the midst of a battle over prescription drugs.
