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Tag: drug overdoses

  • 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

  • Remembering Lives Lost On International Overdose Awareness Day

    Remembering Lives Lost On International Overdose Awareness Day

    International Overdose Awareness Day is on Saturday, August 31st.

    International Overdose Awareness Day is on August 31st, like every year since it began in Australia in 2001. This year, the National Safety Council (NSC) is encouraging people in the U.S. to recognize the awareness day and “remember loved ones and act toward preventing overdose,” according to Occupational Health & Safety.

    Overdose death rates in the U.S. have been on the rise for decades, increasing from 6.1 per 100,000 people in 1999 to 21.7 in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    The increases were particularly severe from 2012 to 2017, though early reports appear to show a slight decrease from 2017 to 2018, sparking hopes that national efforts to fight this epidemic are beginning to show results.

    Spreading the Word

    Still, tens of thousands of people in the U.S. alone are dying yearly, and the NSC is working to reduce the stigma of drug addiction and spread the word.

    “Opioid misuse touches one in every four Americans, and these deaths are completely preventable,” said NSC President and CEO Lorraine M. Martin. “It is also a time to reduce stigma and prevent future deaths by supporting education and advocacy efforts.”

    The NSC is recommending a number of actions that groups and individuals can take to commemorate International Overdose Awareness Day, including holding a candlelight vigil, hosting a fundraiser, wearing purple, and adding the name of someone who died of an opioid overdose to the Celebrating Lost Loved Ones map.

    How To Participate

    The International Overdose Awareness Day website has additional ideas and resources for ways to participate and has already registered a long list of events from all around the world, from Afghanistan to Waupaca, Wisconsin. You can also post or read tributes about lost loved ones on the website or download free social media graphics, t-shirt designs, and overdose fact sheets.

    In 2014, the campaign partnered with the Penington Institute in Australia, which is dedicated to building knowledge and increasing awareness around substance use disorders and equipping frontline workers to act on the problem.

    “Overdose does not discriminate, and the number of people affected by it are increasing around the world,” reads the 2018 International Awareness Day Partners Report. “Part of what makes overdose so deadly is the silence that surrounds it. At Penington Institute, we envisage a world where overdose is destigmatized and better understood; where policy makers make well-informed and evidence-based decisions that help those who are at risk of overdose.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Benzo Death Rates Among Women Skyrocket

    Benzo Death Rates Among Women Skyrocket

    A new report also shows the number of benzodiazepine prescriptions has sharply risen over an 18-year timeframe.

    New statistics suggest that the overdose death rates involving the prescription drugs known as benzodiazepines have risen dramatically over the past decade, and approach statistics for heroin – and synthetic opioid-related overdose deaths.

    A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that between 1999 and 2017, the number of women between the ages of 30 and 64 who died from an drug overdose involving benzodiazepines – a family of drugs used for anxiety – rose 830% during that time period.

    The CDC also found that prescriptions for benzodiazepines rose by 67% during the approximate same time period.

    Benzodiazepines, which include such medications as Xanax, Valium and Klonopin, can prove effective in treating conditions like anxiety or insomnia if taken on an intermittent basis over a period of a few weeks. But with long-term use, they also carry an increased risk for overdose if taken with opioids.

    Their ability to calm or sedate the user through an increase in the neurotransmitter GABA in the brain, which can be dangerous if taken with drugs that slow breathing like opioids or even alcohol. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reported in 2018 that 30% of opioid-related overdoses also involved benzodiazepines.

    The overall impact of benzodiazepine on overdose mortality rates paints a more alarming picture when observed over the time period covered in the CDC’s report. According to their research, overdose deaths involving benzodiazepines among women in the aforementioned target age group rose from 0.54 per 100,000 in 1997 to 5.02 per 100,000 in 2017 – a jump of 830%. 

    The number of benzodiazepine prescriptions also saw a startling increase during the study time frame, rising from 8.1 million adults in the United States who filled a prescription for the medication in 1996 to 13.5 million in 2013.

    Prescriptions began to drop or level off after 2013, but overdose deaths maintained their steady climb: in 2016 alone, there were 10,685 overdose deaths attributed to the drug, while in 1999, the US total as just 1,135.

    Commentary in the February 2018 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine suggested that education about the dangers of the drug and alternatives should be paired with national efforts to fight the opioid crisis.

    Informing doctors and patients alike about their dangers, and the effectiveness of alternative treatments for anxiety and insomnia, could help to bring the numbers reported by the CDC down.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Charging Heroin Dealers With Homicide A Common Practice In Pennsylvania

    Charging Heroin Dealers With Homicide A Common Practice In Pennsylvania

    Pennsylvania leads the nation with more than 500 drug-induced homicide charges filed.

    In Lancaster County, deep in the heart of Amish country, authorities have gone after more drug-induced homicide charges than any other place in the nation, according to figures from Mission LISA, a data aggregation project.

    Last year alone, prosecutors in the southeast Pennsylvania county filed roughly 60 such charges, more than the 37 in nearby Bucks County or the 35 in York County. Four of the most prosecution-prone counties were in the Keystone State, which led the nation with more than 500 drug-induced homicide charges filed.

    It’s a controversial practice, often condemned by harm reduction advocates. But Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman swears the charge—levied against dealers who sell fatal doses of the drug—is working. 

    “I don’t think this is a magic bullet that’s going to end the opioid crisis, but is it part of the solution?” he told WITF. “I’m absolutely convinced it is, and there’s just something about being held accountable.”

    By way of example, Stedman highlighted an interaction with one man accused of selling drugs. “One guy in particular, they arrest him, he’s a long-time heroin dealer, and he was arrested for cocaine. They said, what are you doing? You’re a long-time heroin dealer. And he said, look, message received. I’m not catching a body in Lancaster County.” 

    But advocates decry the practice, as Drug Policy Alliance attorney Lindsay LaSalle explained to the PA Post in 2018.

    “We see this kind of flip,” she said, “where you have the compassion for the person who used but you want to throw the hammer at the person who sold. And this is an absolutely false dichotomy. The distinction between user and seller is often patently false.”

    The high numbers in Lancaster County come amid a long-term increase in drug-related homicide charges, according to the Mission LISA data.

    Going all the way back to 1975, the organization’s data set accounts for 2,741 drug-induced homicide charges—but the figures show a sharp uptick starting around 2010. In that year, there were 67 such charges filed across the nation; by 2015 that figure rose to 300.

    In 2016, it peaked at just over 660, though since then has fallen to under 400.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Teens Who Share Drugs May Face Conviction, Prison Sentencing

    Teens Who Share Drugs May Face Conviction, Prison Sentencing

    Though laws vary in regard to culpability, 20 states regard drug delivery resulting in death as a crime. 

    A new feature on Psychology Today highlights an alarming possibility for parents and teenagers: Sharing drugs with friends can be considered legal grounds for a charge of dealing that can carry a prison sentence.

    The feature references a New York Times article that details hundreds of cases of fatal overdoses in 36 states; many of these involved deaths that led to charges of homicide against friends and relatives, even though the deaths were considered unintentional.  

    Psychology Today advised a conversation with parents of teenagers to inform them about the possible legal consequences of sharing drugs.

    Though laws vary in regard to culpability, the New York Times feature links to a list from the Drug Policy Alliance of 20 states that regard drug delivery resulting in death as a crime. Other states impose charges of manslaughter, homicide and murder on overdose-related cases.

    Regardless of the final charge, cases involving accidental overdose deaths that resulted in prosecution or arrest doubled between 2015 and 2017; in the state of Minnesota, the number quadrupled over a decade.

    The Psychology Today and New York Times articles both emphasized the fact that distribution of drugs that results in a death can result in criminal charges and imprisonment.

    The Times cited a case of a 21-year-old in Minnesota who allegedly brought a synthetic drug to a party where 11 people overdosed, including a friend who died from cardiac arrest. The individual who brought the drug, and who claimed he was not aware of its illegal status, pled guilty to third-degree murder and was sentenced to nearly 10 years.

    The Minnesota case also highlights the broad definition of distribution or dealing that is employed by several states. Sharing or giving away drugs with no exchange of money can be considered distribution; even borrowing money from another person to purchase drugs which results in an overdose death can bring a prosecution charge. Though defendants may argue that they did not force the situation in which a fatal overdose occurred, prosecutors take the position that the drugs caused a death, regardless of intent.

    “Some family has lost an innocent life,” said Peter Kilmartin, attorney general of Rhode Island, in the New York Times piece. “That victim no longer has a voice.”

    The Psychology Today feature that connects the two stories advocates for direct communication about sharing drugs with teenagers. “Open a dialogue with your child about drug sharing and the new legal consequences,” wrote the story’s author, Sean Grover, LCSW. Involving family members or representatives from a child’s school is also suggested.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Parents Of Opioid Epidemic Named Citizens Of The Year

    Parents Of Opioid Epidemic Named Citizens Of The Year

    A New Hampshire paper has named the “parents of the addiction crisis” as the citizens of the year for 2018.

    In New Hampshire last year, 437 people died of drug overdoses, a significant number in the small state. Many of them were young adults who left behind parents who were unable to save them, despite their best intentions.

    Now, a New Hampshire paper has named the “parents of the addiction crisis” as the citizens of the year for 2018.

    “The selection honors parents who have lost children to overdoses — and others whose loved ones have found recovery — but who are striving to help other families find hope and healing,” Shawne K. Wickham wrote in a piece for The New Hampshire Union Leader explaining the selection. “Most do that work quietly, out of public view. They run support groups and volunteer at recovery centers. They raise their grandchildren, postponing retirement in favor of parenting a second time around. Others have shared their stories publicly, reaching out in hopes of sparing other families their grief.”

    After Susan Messinger’s son died of a fentanyl overdose in 2014, Messinger and her husband John (who passed away suddenly last fall) threw themselves into advocacy and awareness in hopes that other parents would never need to experience a loss like theirs.

    “It may look like we’re OK; you see us in the grocery store, Walmart, wherever. We’re there, we’re putting one foot in front of the other; we may have a smile on our face that day or we may look sad,” Messinger said. “But our heart is broken inside and it’s never, ever, ever going to be together again.”

    Jim and Anne Marie Zanfagna lost their daughter to an opioid overdose in the fall. Anne Marie has since painted 180 pictures of people who have died from drug overdoses.

    She calls the series “Angels of Addictions.” It has now been displayed around the state and led the Zanfagnas to found a nonprofit by the same name to raise awareness and cut stigma. They want to encourage other people to be open about addiction. 

    “Speak about this,” said Jim Zanfagna. “Let people know what’s going on. Maybe we can save some lives.”

    Charles “Chucky” Rosa has been speaking out since his two sons died of drug overdoses more than 10 years ago. Recently he has seen more and more parents doing the same. 

    “I used to be the only member of the club that nobody wants to be part of,” he said. “Now there’s so many people that have lost children.”

    Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) said that New Hampshire parents have shown resiliency in the face of crisis.

    “So many families have courageously shared their experience of losing a loved one, which has been instrumental in destigmatizing substance use disorders and raising awareness of the magnitude of this crisis,” she said. “I deeply appreciate their advocacy and will continue to work with them to end this scourge on our state and our country.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Overdose Survivors Struggle After Their Trauma Goes Viral

    Overdose Survivors Struggle After Their Trauma Goes Viral

    Survivors of viral overdose videos recount the incidents and the aftermath of their trauma becoming a public spectacle.

    It’s difficult, if not seemingly impossible, to rebuild your life once your drug addiction becomes public knowledge. That’s the message of an emotional feature by The Hamilton Spectator, which follows several overdose victims whose “bleakest moments now live online.” 

    Kelmae Hemphill, for one, struggled for 11 years with drug addiction before her heroin overdose was uploaded to YouTube. Her addiction was “now everybody’s business, splashed across the news and social media with a new genre of American horror film: the overdose video.”

    Hemphill overdosed on a New Jersey road while a stranger tried resuscitating her — all of which was filmed by her own drug dealer.

    Even more unsettling than Hemphill’s video is the fact that overdose videos are becoming more common by the day. Thanks to the opioid epidemic, law enforcement agencies nationwide have equipped their officers with cameras. The result? “[R]aw, uncensored images of drug users passed out with needles in their arms and babies in the back seats of their cars,” the feature answered. “The videos rack up millions of views and unleash avalanches of outrage.” 

    According to The Spectator, Hemphill’s video elicited such cold-hearted comments as “[w]hy bother saving her?” and “I would’ve let her die.” Now, Hemphill continues to struggle to emerge from the shadow of her overdose video: “When you type my name in [YouTube], that’s the first video that pops up — an overdose video,” she said. 

    Mandy McGowan of Lawrence, Mass. has a similar story after the town’s police chief released a video of her collapsed in the toy aisle of a Family Dollar while her two-year-old daughter tugged at her arm. McGowan instantly became known as the “Dollar Store Junkie” after the video went viral and landed on news channels like CNN and Fox News.

    “For someone already dealing with her own demons, she now has to deal with public opinion, too,” said Matt Ganem, who is the executive director of Banyan Treatment Center. “You’re a spectacle. Everyone is watching.” Banyan provided McGowan with six months of free treatment.)

    “I know what I did, and I can’t change it,” McGowan said, lamenting that she’s since lost custody of her daughter. “I live with that guilt every single day. But it’s also wrong to take video and not help.”

    She’s since begun to rebuild her life through AA and NA meetings as well as counseling. “It’s going to be a long road for me. You don’t just get clean and your life is suddenly all put back together,” McGowan added. 

    Similarly, when June Schweinhart and a friend snorted heroin and passed out with their infant children in the backseat, videos from police body cameras became public and went viral. “It looked like a whole different person,” Schweinhart said. “It was a reality check … It made me sick to my stomach. It still does.” And while Hemphill, McGowan and Schweinhart are all sober now, their overdose videos live online. In many ways, it calls into question whether it’s ever truly possible to survive addiction if your lowest point in life survives, too. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Can A Google Search Predict An Overdose?

    Can A Google Search Predict An Overdose?

    Researchers examined whether Internet search data from Google could help them predict where an overdose will occur.

    Technology has no doubt played a role in the opioid epidemic, with drug users and dealers able to order narcotics online and have them delivered directly to their homes. Now a new study suggests that the internet could also play an important role in alleviating the crisis by helping to predict opioid overdoses. 

    The study, titled “Internet searches for opioids predict future emergency department heroin admissions,” was published in the September issue of the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence and reported in Scientific American last week. 

    Sean D. Young, a researcher at the University of California Institute for Prediction Technology, led a team that analyzed Google search prevalence of opioid-related terms, including “Avinza,” “Brown Sugar,” “China White,” “Codeine,” “Kadian,” “Methadone,” and “Oxymorphone.”

    The researchers compared that data to heroin-related emergency room visits in nine different areas around the US over the following year. They found that in the best model, search data could explain 72% of the variance in emergency department visits. Overall, the more a keyword was searched, the more opioid-related hospitalizations were likely to happen in that region in the next year. 

    “Internet search-based modeling should be explored as a new source of insights for predicting heroin-related admissions,” the study authors wrote. 

    Internet search data could be particularly important in areas where there is little information on the drug epidemic. Analyzing the data is a cost-effective way of predicting how opioid abuse might change in the upcoming year, they said. 

    “In geographic regions where no current heroin-related data exist, Internet search modeling might be a particularly valuable and inexpensive tool for estimating changing heroin use trends,” the authors wrote. “We discuss the immediate implications for using this approach to assist in managing opioid-related morbidity and mortality in the United States.”

    Researchers said this tool could be important for helping to understand and prevent overdose deaths. For example, in areas expecting to see an increase in drug-related hospital visits, community organizations could distribute more doses of naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal drug. 

    “For a number of fiscal and practical reasons, data on heroin use have been of poor quality, which has hampered the ability to halt the growing epidemic,” the researchers wrote. “Internet search data, such as those made available by Google Trends, have been used as a low-cost, real-time data source for monitoring and predicting a variety of public health outcomes.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • How Drugs, Alcohol & Suicide Are Affecting The Average Lifespan

    How Drugs, Alcohol & Suicide Are Affecting The Average Lifespan

    A new CDC report has revealed some alarming changes in life expectancy trends.

    A new CDC report reveals that the average life expectancy in the United States is falling for the first time since 1993.

    Drugs, alcohol, and suicide are taking the lives of young Americans at rates so high that the U.S. life expectancy is being pushed down, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has released a new federal report revealing that the U.S. life expectancy has dipped by about 0.3 years between 2014 and 2016.

    This breaks the pattern of steadily-rising life expectancy between 2006 and 2016, which saw growth from 77.8 years to 78.6 years. The causes for this drop in the general population, says the CDC, are rising drug overdose rates, suicide, liver disease, and Alzheimer’s.

    Drug deaths have been spiraling out of control over the past few years, killing 63,600 people in 2016.

    In 2016, liver disease surpassed HIV to take the dubious honor of being the sixth-highest cause of death for U.S. adults aged 25 to 44.

    Suicide has been on an upward trend for all demographics, including an alarming 9% increase in suicides by children from age 1 to 14 during the study period.

    While more men have died of overdose and suicide than women in the past, that gender gap is quickly closing. Drug overdose deaths jumped by about 19% for women aged 15 to 24 from 2014 to 2016. Suicide rates for young women have grown by a whopping 70% between 2010 and 2016.

    Deaths from Alzheimer’s disease have risen by 21%, and the CDC expects this number to grow larger as time goes on.

    However, the report wasn’t all bad news. Among Americans above the age of 65, deaths resulting from heart disease, cancer, and strokes have fallen.

    Drugs, alcohol, and suicide have been working to drive down life expectancy since 1993. While these increases may not seem like a big deal, Robert Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch at the National Center for Health Statistics, says we should be aware.

    “For any individual, that’s not a whole lot,” he told NPR. “But when you’re talking about it in terms of a population, you’re talking about a significant number of potential lives that aren’t being lived.”  

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Ariana Grande’s Brother: Mac Miller Helped Me Get Sober

    Ariana Grande’s Brother: Mac Miller Helped Me Get Sober

    “He was the reason I went to the rehabilitation center where I was detoxed safely from all of the drugs alcohol and medications I was taking.”

    Frankie Grande paid tribute to Mac Miller in an Instagram post, stating it was thanks to the late rapper that Grande got sober.

    “I am beyond heartbroken over Malcolm’s death. He was a good friend and was wonderful to my sister,” Grande posed, referring to the relationship his sister, Ariana Grande, and Miller shared. “He was the reason I went to the rehabilitation center where I was detoxed safely from all of the drugs alcohol and medications I was taking, when I couldn’t imagine living without them. It was the place where I found the community of support that showed me that living life without drugs was a possibility and I would have never discovered that if it weren’t for Malcolm.”

    Grande went on to recount all the times Miller showed up to support Grande’s sobriety milestones before calling for sympathy for those who suffer from substance abuse disorders.

    “I am beyond heartbroken over Malcolm’s death. He was a good friend and was wonderful to my sister,” Grande wrote in the caption. “He was the reason I went to the rehabilitation center where I was detoxed safely from all of the drugs alcohol and medications I was taking, when I couldn’t imagine living without them. It was the place where I found the community of support that showed me that living life without drugs was a possibility and I would have never discovered that if it weren’t for Malcolm.”

    Grande recounted all of the times Miller showed up to celebrate his sobriety milestones, treating him with gifts and “words of encouragement.”

    “Addiction is a TERRIBLE disease… many people are suffering from addiction like I am and many many of them are losing,” he  wrote. “Those of us who are struggling with addiction must stay strong. We must continue to work HARD on ourselves every single day and help each other. Our disease is strong but WE ARE STRONGER and I vow to work every moment of my life to have myself sober so that i may be there for others.”

    Grande included several numbers to resources that anyone who may need help with substance abuse.

    “Malcolm my friend, you will be dearly missed,” he added. “And I know you will be looking down on me from heaven, proudAF for every day I live my life clean and sober… 453 days and counting… Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

    View the original article at thefix.com