“The United States is experiencing an epidemic of drug overdose (poisoning) deaths”, the CDC’s report reads.
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According to the Centers for Disease Control, the rate of prescriptions of opioid pain relievers is four times higher than it was in 1999.
Rural West Virginia had one of the worse overdose rates in the US.
From 2000 to 2014, close to 500,000 Americans died from drug overdoses.
The most commonly prescribed opioid pain relievers, those classified as natural or semi-synthetic opioids such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, continue to be involved in more overdose deaths than any other opioid type.
The CDC said the problem is that death certificate data doesn’t distinguish between illicitly manufactured fentanyl and prescription fentanyl.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported Friday that about a half million people have died from drug overdoses over the last 15 years. OH saw an increase of 18.3 percent in its rate from 2013 to 2014, the eighth-highest increase nationwide. “In addition, efforts are needed to protect persons already dependent on opioids from overdose and other harms”. “This is a big win for the opioid lobby”, said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, co-founder of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, a group that wants to see less use of painkillers by doctors, according to the AP.
According to the CDC, widespread availability of illegally produced synthetic opioids and inadequate treatment programs are to blame for the “worsening” epidemic.
Heroin deaths have more than tripled since 2010, increasing 26 percent from 2013 to 2014.
The switch to heroin is fueled by the increased availability of heroin, its relatively low price compared to prescription narcotics and the high purity of the heroin being sold, the researchers reported.
“It’s also important that doctors and pharmacists and community mental health and substance abuse and law enforcement all work together in order to combat what we now know is a tidal wave that is striking cities like Indianapolis and elsewhere throughout the country”, he said.
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More than that, people addicted to opioids should have access to treatment, including access to naloxone, a drug that can reverse the symptoms in case of an opioid overdose. The next year, the White House released its national Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Plan to outline goals for addressing prescription drug misuse and overdose.
