CDC: Deadly drug overdoses hit all-time high in 2014

“Rates of opioid overdose deaths also increased significantly, from 7.9 per 100,000 in 2013 to 9.0 per 100,000 in 2014, a 14% increase”.

The CDC reports, 2014 was the deadliest year on record for drug overdoses. It’s an epidemic that claimed the lives of more than 47,000 Americans.

Both the CDC and ONDCP called for better prevention efforts and greater access to treatment for patients with addiction, particularly medication-assisted therapy, as well as stepped-up law enforcement efforts to curb use. People with the highest risk of using heroin are those who became dependent or who abused prescription opioids during the past year.

The spike in deaths has coincided with a rapid rise in the abuse of opioid-based prescription painkillers such as oxycontin and hydrocodone.

Overdose deaths are up in both men and women, in non-Hispanic whites and blacks, and in adults of almost all ages, the report said.

Deaths from drug overdoses have increased 137 percent since the year 2000, while deaths related to opioid overdoses have increased 200 percent. The Department of Health and Human Services has made the issue a national public health priority, encouraging the use of naloxone, a drug that helps reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

The five states with the highest drug overdose death rates were West Virginia, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Kentucky and Ohio.

Opioid overdoses (including heroin) now make up the largest percentage of overdose deaths in 2014 – 61 percent of all deaths.

Although the rate of heroin deaths is rising sharply, it’s still significantly outnumbered by the number of deaths caused by prescription painkillers.

Heroin killed 10,574 persons during 2015, an increase with 26 percent from 2013. This is most likely due to a more pure heroine, lower overall prices for the drug, and a wider availability. If my Dr. trusts my frequency of use through our appointments why are we considered criminals?

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the rate of prescriptions of opioid pain relievers is four times higher than it was in 1999.

State and local public health agencies, medical examiners and coroners, and law enforcement agencies must work together to improve detection of and response to illicit opioid overdose outbreaks to address this emerging threat to public health and safety. But the pushback has been hard from patients, doctors and the drug industry, as well as groups such as the U.S. Pain Foundation and the American Academy of Pain Management.