Overdose Deaths In US Hit Record High

Previous year in the United States more people died from drug overdoses than ever before, according to a recent report put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The rising deaths were largely due to disturbing increases in the abuse of prescription painkillers and heroin use, the report said. The highest rates of death from overdose were seen in West Virginia, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Kentucky, and OH, the CDC report said.

Heroin-related death rates increased 26 percent from 2013-2014, the latest study found. There were 10,574 such deaths past year.

The CDC released the latest statistics on drug-related deaths, saying 47,000 people died in the U.S.

Drug overdose deaths in the US are up by a record-high rate.

The largest increase in opioid overdose deaths involved synthetic opioids such as oxycodone and hydrocodone (methadone was excluded), Rudd and colleagues said. And heroin-related deaths have tripled since 2010.

Overdoses caused by opioids like prescription pain killers accounted for 61 percent of all the deaths.

The report said there were approximately one and half times more drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2014 than deaths from motor vehicle crashes. The count also included deaths involving powerful sedatives, cocaine and other legal and illicit drugs. Overall, deaths occurred most frequently for both sexes from the ages of 25 to 44, and for whites and blacks over 55 years old.

The CDC then outlined some recommendations in how to reduce and eventually curb overdose death.

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.

Limit initiation into opioid misuse and addiction.

The data revealed that the biggest jump in deaths resulted from the use of synthetic opioids such as Fentanyl and Tramadol.

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.

“This has been not creeping along, this has come about in really the last 10 years; It’s exploded”, said Dr. R. Corey Waller, with Spectrum Health who is also a member of the state task force. The agency is trying to produce new guidelines that would encourage doctors to prescribe potentially addictive painkillers only as a last resort.