Answer Addiction

Category: Overdose Deaths

  • Fentanyl-Related Deaths Skyrocket In California

    Fentanyl-Related Deaths Skyrocket In California

    Overdose deaths related to fentanyl rose more than 1,000% between 2014 and 2018 in the state.

    The recent overdose-related death of Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs has brought to light a troubling statistic for the state of California: while new opioid prescriptions and drug-related emergency room visits have dropped in the Golden State since 2014, overdose deaths related to the synthetic opioid fentanyl have risen sharply over the same time period.

    The East Bay Times examined the increase in a feature that showed that overdose deaths related to fentanyl rose more than 1,000% between 2014 and 2018, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.

    Phantom Fentanyl

    The blame for the increase was laid in part on what the Times called “phantom fentanyl”—pills made from fentanyl and cut to resemble prescription drugs such as the prescription painkiller oxycodone, which were also in part responsible for the death of rapper Mac Miller in 2018—as well as changes to the legal system which have reduced the number of offenders entering treatment programs.

    The health department data referenced by the Times found that in 2014, 15 people died from fentanyl overdoses in Los Angeles County. Four years later, the death toll had risen to 202—an increase of 1,247%. Statewide, fentanyl deaths also rose 614% during the four-year period, for a total of 1,649 fatalities.

    The increase of counterfeit pharmaceuticals made with fentanyl was seen as the primary cause of the increase. Counterfeit pills can be made for $1 each, according to the Times, and sold for 20 times that amount on the black market. Both Skaggs and Mac Miller succumbed to overdoses caused by fentanyl and oxycodone in 2019 and 2018, respectively.

    But the Times also cited the opinion of state law enforcement, which suggested that the passage of Proposition 47—which categorized non-violent offenses like drug or property crimes as misdemeanors, which are imposed without jail time—may have had an impact.

    Removing those individuals from the two-pronged diversionary approach to drugs afforded by incarceration—the penalty of imprisonment and the opportunity to attend treatment programs in jail—has led to a “reduction in people attending treatment programs,” according to Jodi Miller, a spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

    Narcan Availability And Fentanyl Strips Could Make A Difference

    The increased availability of the opioid-overdose reversal drug Narcan could make a difference in fatality statistics, but Department of Public Health officials also suggested that greater access to fentanyl test strips—which can detect the presence of the opioid in urine and in drugs themselves—could also have an impact. However, access to test strips is currently limited to harm reduction-oriented programs, according to the Times.

    Los Angeles County has also launched a public education program on prescription pain medication abuse in English and Spanish as a means of combating death rates in an area which saw some of the most significant increases—404 overdose deaths, including half in 2018 alone—in overdose fatality rates.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • New York Overdose Deaths Decline Slightly After Rising For 7 Years

    New York Overdose Deaths Decline Slightly After Rising For 7 Years

    “The decrease in drug overdose deaths is promising but far too many New Yorkers are still dying,” said New York Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot.

    The official report for 2018 drug overdose deaths in New York City has been released, showing a slight 2.6% decrease from 2017 after being on the rise for seven years. Last year, there were 1,444 overdose deaths within city limits, compared to just 541 in 2010.

    Experts see this as a promising start after the city put forth millions of dollars in efforts to address this problem, particularly as the opioid epidemic has raged on. However, overdose deaths are still too high for anyone’s liking.

    “The decrease in drug overdose deaths is promising,” said New York Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot, according to NBC. “But far too many New Yorkers are still dying.”

    The U.S. has experienced a “third wave” of the opioid epidemic in recent years due to the increasing prevalence of the highly potent fentanyl. This particular drug is often added to other illicit substances such as heroin or cocaine to increase the euphoric effect, and has been attributed to the heightened death toll of the opioid crisis.

    Around 80% of New York’s overdose death cases from 2018 involved an opioid, with around 50% involving cocaine.

    A Little Relief

    Thankfully, preliminary reports on overdose deaths throughout the country have suggested an overall downturn in the number of fatal cases after several years of severe and alarming spikes.

    Much of the nation’s efforts to combat the opioid epidemic have revolved around increasing the public’s access to naloxone, the drug that blocks opioid receptors in the brain, halting the effects of an overdose.

    Campaigns have been launched across the U.S. to install naloxone kits alongside general first aid kits in public places such as airports and hotels and to recruit people to act as “community responders,” using apps and widespread community involvement to save lives.

    Naloxone Access

    New York City alone has distributed around 230,000 naloxone kits in two years. The medication commonly comes in an easy-to-deploy nasal spray, which anyone can purchase from a local pharmacy and carry with them in case they or someone nearby suffers an overdose.

    Local governments have also invested in facilitating access to addiction treatment programs and businesses have contributed by implementing overdose detection technology in customer bathrooms in places like coffee shops and fast food establishments.

    Unfortunately, some possibly overlooked populations still saw a rise in the number of overdose deaths in New York, including among older adults ages 55 to 84.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • DEA Database Tracked Every Pain Pill Sold In The US, Here's Where They Went

    DEA Database Tracked Every Pain Pill Sold In The US, Here's Where They Went

    The data depicts a clear “opioid belt” comprised of more than 90 counties across West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky.

    Where the pills went, death followed.

    This is clear to see in a side by side comparison of recently released data showing exactly where—and to what extent—76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pills were distributed between 2006 and 2012, and CDC opioid death data from the same time period.

    Record-Making Civil Action

    The DEA’s database tracked the “path of every single pain pill sold in the United States,” the Washington Post reported. The Post and HD Media (the publisher of the Charleston Gazette-Mail in West Virginia) were granted access to the database last Monday (July 15) after a year-long effort to make the data available, in the largest civil action in U.S. history.

    The Post analyzed millions of transactions from 2006 to 2012, and made the data searchable by state or county. It found that 75% of the pain pills (oxycodone and hydrocodone) were distributed by just six companies in this time period—McKesson Corp., Walgreens, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, CVS and Walmart.

    The Post then compared this data alongside CDC opioid death data. This showed a clear correlation between the number of pain pills that were sent to a region and how many people died of opioid-related causes there.

    The data, visualized in two separate maps, depicts a clear “opioid belt” comprised of more than 90 counties covering Webster County, West Virginia, southern Virginia, and Monroe County, Kentucky.

    Rural communities in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia experienced the highest per capita opioid death rate during this time period.

    As the Post reported, the national opioid death rate was 4.6 deaths per 100,000 residents. “But the counties that had the most pills distributed per person experienced more than three times that rate on average.”

    Even more shocking was that “13 of those counties had an opioid death rate more than eight times the national rate… Seven of them were in West Virginia.”

    “What [the drug companies] did legally to my state is criminal,” said U.S. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. “The companies, the distributors, were unconscionable. This was not a health plan. This was a targeted business plan. I cannot believe that we have not gone after them with criminal charges.”

    So far Rochester Drug Cooperative, a drug distributor based in New York, has been the first and only to be hit with felony criminal charges for the illegal distribution of controlled substances.

    Nearly 2,000 lawsuits against drug companies, including Johnson & Johnson and Purdue Pharma, are pending in federal court. The lawsuits claim that the companies irresponsibly marketed and distributed powerful opioid drugs with little consideration for the risk of patients becoming addicted or dying.

    View the original article at thefix.com