The United States is in the midst of an opioid overdose epidemic says the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Opioids (including prescription opioid pain relievers and heroin) killed more than 28,000 people in 2014, more than any year on record. At least half of all opioid overdose deaths involve a prescription opioid1.
Drug overdose deaths in the United States hit record numbers in 2014
More people died from drug overdoses in 2014 than in any year on record. The majority of drug overdose deaths (more than six out of ten) involve an opioid.1 And since 1999, the rate of overdose deaths involving opioids (including prescription opioid pain relievers and heroin) nearly quadrupled. From 2000 to 2014 nearly half a million people died from drug overdoses. 78 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose.
We now know that overdoses from prescription opioid pain relievers are a driving factor in the 15-year increase in opioid overdose deaths. Since 1999, the amount of prescription opioids sold in the U.S. nearly quadrupled, yet there has not been an overall change in the amount of pain that Americans report. Deaths from prescription opioids—drugs like oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone—have also quadrupled since 19992.
More people died from drug overdoses in 2014 than in any year on record.
Heroin use is Trending Up!
From 2002–2013, past month heroin use, past year heroin use, and heroin addiction have all increased among 18-25-year-olds. The number of people who started to use heroin in the past year is also trending up. Among new heroin users, approximately three out of four report abusing prescription opioids prior to using heroin. The increased availability, lower price, and increased purity of heroin in the US have been identified as possible contributors to rising rates of heroin use. According to data from the DEA, the amount of heroin seized each year at the southwest border of the United States was approximately 500 kg during 2000–2008. This amount quadrupled to 2,196 kg in 2013.
Heroin-related deaths more than tripled between 2010 and 2014, with 10,574 heroin deaths in 2014. The largest increase in overdose deaths from 2013 to 2014 was for those involving synthetic opioids (other than methadone), which rose from 3,105 deaths in 2013 to 5,544 deaths in 2014. One of these synthetic opioids, illegally-made fentanyl, drove the increase. It was often mixed with heroin and/or cocaine as a combination product—with or without the user’s knowledge3.
Preventing Overdose Deaths
We need to improve prescribing of opioids, expand treatment of addiction, and reduce access to illegal opioids.
- Improve opioid prescribing to reduce exposure to opioids, prevent abuse, and stop addiction.
- Expand access to evidence-based substance abuse treatment, such as Medication-Assisted Treatment, for people already struggling with opioid addiction.
- Expand access and use of naloxone—a safe antidote to reverse opioid overdose.
- Promote the use of state prescription drug monitoring programs, which give health care providers information to improve patient safety and prevent abuse.
- Implement and strengthen state strategies that help prevent high-risk prescribing and prevent opioid overdose.
- Improve detection of the trends of illegal opioid use by working with state and local public health agencies, medical examiners and coroners, and law enforcement.
Jay Harold would like to thank the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for providing this important health information. Click this link to get free Health and Wealth information to improve your life. Play the free “Slow Roll Through Civil Rights” Game found on the Jay Harold website. Enjoyed this post? Share it and read more here.
