Stop Calling it an Opioid Crisis--It ' s a Heroin and Fentanyl Crisis

The National Center for Health Statisticsreported last month that a record 63,600 deaths occurred in 2016 due to overdoses. Diggingdeeper into that number shows over 20,000 of those deaths were due to the powerful drug fentanyl, more than 15,000 were caused by heroin, and roughly 14,500 were caused by prescription opioids, although it has been known for years that, inmost cases of prescription opioid deaths, the victims hadmultiple other potentiating drugs onboard. The rest of the deaths were due to methamphetamines, cocaine, benzodiazepines, and methadone.Drugs Involved in U.S. Overdose Deaths* - Among the more than 64,000 drug overdose deaths estimated in 2016, the sharpest increase occurred among deaths related to fentanyl and fentanyl analogs (synthetic opioids) with over 20,000 overdose deaths. Source: CDC WONDER* Provisional counts for 2016 are based on data available for analysis as of 8/2017.In its end-of-year report, the National Center for Health Statistics noted deaths from fentanyl increased at a steady annual rate of 18% per year from 1999-2013 and then shot up 88% from 2013-2016.Fentanyl is not routinely prescribed in the outpatient setting, and when it is, it most commonly is in the form of a skin patch for slow, transdermal release, unsuitable for abuse or nonmedical use. Theevidence shows it is being smuggled into the country, often by mail, in powdered form from factories in China and elsewhere, where it isused to fill counterfeit prescription opioid capsule...

Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 8, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs