Drug overdose deaths hit record numbers in 2014

Deaths from drug overdose has reached record high levels in 2014 with 47,055 people died from drug overdoses in America a year ago, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention latest report. Opioid overdose deaths increased 14 percent from 2013 to 2014. CDC analyzed recent multiple cause-of-death mortality data to examine current trends and characteristics of drug overdose deaths, including the types of opioids associated with drug overdose deaths.

Death due to drug overdose is very high in five states, namely, Ohio, Kentucky, New Mexico, West Virginia, and New Hampshire. The state rate was 35.5 per 100,000 people; the national rate was about 15 per 100,000.

But deaths are on the rise from overdoses of all sorts of drugs, despite efforts to formulate them in ways that make the drugs more hard to abuse.

The CDC said that these numbers were based according to the death certificates and nearly half a million people in the United States died from drug overdose from the year 2012 through 2014.

“These findings indicate that the opioid overdose epidemic is worsening”.

“The impact of prescription drug and opioid abuse is being felt in every community across MI”. The new report, however, suggested that heroin-related death had something to do with the drug’s accessibility. Opioids were involved in 28,647 deaths in 2014 and opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 2000.

Increases in prescription opioid pain reliever and heroin deaths are the biggest driver of the drug overdose epidemic. Deaths attributable to these drugs rose by nine percent from 2013 to 2014.

“The guidelines don’t appear to be particularly useful for patients already on chronic opioid therapy”, he said, adding that it’s unclear whether the proposal would influence the workers comp industry’s thinking about legacy chronic pain claims. According to the CDC, the increase in synthetic opioid deaths coincided with increased reports by law enforcement of illicitly manufactured fentanyl. Some studies conducted in past has shown that prescribed opioids often lead to the use of drugs like heroin.

In addition to drug treatment, the CDC urged increased use of naloxone, an overdose antidote.

Another recommendation issued by the CDC is that public health agencies and law enforcement agencies have to work together to prevent the misuse of both prescription and illicit opioids and address the issue which threatens the public health and safety.