Answer Addiction

Tag: overdose deaths

  • Daniel Baldwin's New Documentary Spotlights Loved Ones Of Overdose Victims

    Daniel Baldwin's New Documentary Spotlights Loved Ones Of Overdose Victims

    The idea for the documentary came to Baldwin after he learned about the overdose death of his friend PJ Raynor.

    An upcoming documentary will focus on an area of the drug epidemic that isn’t often talked about: the experiences of friends and family members who are left behind when someone overdoses. 

    The documentary, called My Promise To PJ is being produced by Daniel Baldwin, the brother of Alec, Stephen and William Baldwin. 

    Losing PJ

    The idea for the documentary came after Baldwin, who is in recovery, learned about the overdose of P.J. Raynor. Baldwin had helped Raynor get sober, but after more than three years in recovery, Raynor relapsed and died on June 28, 2017.

    “I felt robbed,” Baldwin told WECT News about Raynor’s death. “I felt this is not the way the script was written by me. He finally got it, he had three and a half years sober and then I got a phone call that the first time he went back out and used heroin again it was laced with fentanyl and he overdosed.”

    Raynor’s parents, Patrick and Barbara Raynor, will participate in the film, and share how their lives have been changed since their son’s death. 

    “I’m a different person now,” said Patrick Raynor. “Not always a good thing when you’re changed by something like this. Never a good thing actually.” 

    Long-Term Sobriety

    Baldwin hopes that the film project will help other people with substance use disorder and their families.

    He said that it is healing for him to work on the project. “The service portion of my sobriety in my program is imperative for my staying sober,” he said. “So, another reason I’m doing this film is because unlike the one kid I’m going to take to coffee and take to a meeting and try to help him, I might reach five million people by doing this movie, and that’s part of what keeps me sober.”

    Baldwin pointed out that long-term sobriety is a challenge, especially in communities that have been heavily-impacted by the opioid epidemic. 

    “You have such a concentrated problem, when they come back from rehab, they’re thrust with the same people, places, and things that they were around and they don’t have long-term sobriety,” he said. 

    It’s a problem that Baldwin knows firsthand. He did nine stints in rehab before he successfully got sober in 2006. Since then, he has used his celebrity status to work on projects about addiction. 

    “By my taking those actions and being of service, it keeps my disease right in front of me and allows me to give away what was so freely given to me when I was in need,” he told The Fix in 2016. “It’s the cycle of life.”

    Filming of My Promise to PJ recently began, but a release date hasn’t yet been set for the film. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Cities Now Outpace Rural Towns In Overdose Deaths

    Cities Now Outpace Rural Towns In Overdose Deaths

    In 2017, there were a reported 22 overdose deaths per 100,000 people in urban areas, officially surpassing the 20 deaths per 100,000 in rural areas by a slim margin.

    Rural areas have been hardest hit by the opioid crisis, but overdoses in cities are now on the rise.

    As it developed, coverage of the opioid crisis seemed to center on rural white Americans. Now, overdose rates in urban areas of the United States has overtaken rural rates.

    This shift began happening in 2015 and, according to experts like Dr. Daniel Ciccarone, is due to a change in the dynamic of opioid addiction. The exact nature of this shift isn’t precisely known.

    One argument is that the crisis initially began because prescription opioid painkillers were available to virtually anyone in the United States at the discretion of a doctor. This allowed opioid addiction to grip Midwestern and Appalachian areas in a way other drugs could not. 

    Theories

    As awareness of opioids grew, prescription pills became harder to come by. This pushed people who were already hooked to look for heroin and fentanyl–drugs more easily found in urban areas where illicit markets are already in place.

    An alternative theory is that the epidemic has simply expanded to the point where it’s started to affect black and Hispanic populations who tend to live in more urban areas.

    “Early on, this was seen as an epidemic affecting whites more than other groups,” said Dr. Ciccarone. “Increasingly, deaths in urban areas are starting to look brown and black.”

    In 2017, there were a reported 22 overdose deaths per 100,000 people in urban areas, officially surpassing the 20 deaths per 100,000 in rural areas by a narrow margin.

    Overdoses continue to be an epidemic, killing about 68,000 Americans last year. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), overdoses in urban areas are affecting mostly men and are caused mostly by fentanyl and heroin. However, overdoses are killing more women in rural areas. These rural deaths are mostly caused by meth and opioid painkillers.

    This epidemic doesn’t discriminate, not only between race and geography, but wealth and fame as well. Most recently, Saoirse Kennedy Hill, the granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, was found dead of an overdose on Thursday at just 22 years old. Other prominent people who lost their lives to overdose include the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, the legendary musician Prince, and rapper Mac Miller.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • "Below Deck" Star's Son Dies Of Overdose After 20-Year Addiction Battle

    "Below Deck" Star's Son Dies Of Overdose After 20-Year Addiction Battle

    “We loved Josh unconditionally and were proud of the man he had become in spite of his problems,” the Below Deck star wrote about his son.

    Tragedy struck the family of one of the recurring stars of Bravo’s nautical reality series Below Deck when a family member died of a drug overdose. Captain Lee Rosbach posted a tribute to his youngest son, Joshua, on his Instagram page, saying that he “finally succumbed to the demons he fought so long and so hard” for 20 years at the age of 42.

    According to People, the overdose was accidental.

    “We loved Josh unconditionally and were proud of the man he had become in spite of his problems,” Rosbach wrote. “There was no one I ever knew who gave more of himself to those in his life. He loved with all his being without expecting anything in return. We both feel a hole in our souls that will never be filled.”

    An obituary for Joshua was posted on the Dignity Memorial website, which confirms that he died on July 22. The text says that he passed in his own home and, like his father, enjoyed sailing and spending time with his family and his dog Champ.

    The memorial service was held on July 27th, and his family has asked for donations to the Humane Society of Broward County in place of flowers.

    The Captain Talks Addiction

    In addition to celebrating his son’s life, Captain Lee Rosbach spoke on the devastating effects of addiction and how it can impact anyone, regardless of wealth or lifestyle.

    “Addiction is an insidious disease that knows no social status or geographic boundaries,” he said. “Whether you live in a 10,000 sq. ft. mansion or a double wide trailer, the path of death, destruction and devastation it leaves remains the same.”

    According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), overdose death rates have been steadily rising since 1999. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 70,237 people died of an overdose involving any drug in 2017.

    More than half of these deaths involved opioids as the opioid crisis has worsened year after year, though deaths from overdose involving methamphetamine and cocaine have also increased, with significant jumps in 2016 and 2017. 

    “So my message to those of you who are fighting this disease, find a way to get help no matter what,” Rosbach concluded in his Instagram post. “For those of you who have a friend, family member, son, or daughter who’s struggling, do what ever it takes to get them the help they need. Be kind and loving, and try to enjoy every second you have with them.”

    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

  • Overdose Deaths Dip For The First Time In Decades

    Overdose Deaths Dip For The First Time In Decades

    The national overdose toll declined by about 3,000 between 2017 and 2018.

    Overdose death rates were slightly lower in 2018 than in 2017, the first time in decades that the overdose rate has declined.

    Despite that positive news brought about by preliminary data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) experts emphasized that with more than 69,000 Americans dying of an overdose in 2018 the nation is still in an epidemic.

    Robert N. Anderson, chief of the Mortality Statistics Branch at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics told The American Journal of Managed Care that the national overdose toll was reduced by about 3,000 people between 2017 and 2018. That could indicate that “we may have reached a peak in the epidemic,” he said.

    Still, he cautioned, the overdose death rate remains extremely high.

    “That said, the number of deaths for 2018 is still predicted to be nearly 70,000. That is a lot of people dying much too young. Even if the decline holds once the data are final, it is too soon to declare victory,” Anderson said.

    The data is based on preliminary models and predictions of what the final data will look like. Anderson said that the models are usually accurate, however, so the trend will likely be confirmed.

    Increased access to the opioid-overdose reversal drug naloxone may have helped save lives and contributed to the lowered death toll. However, that means many people are still using drugs, and Anderson emphasized that the drug epidemic needs ongoing monitoring and interventions.

    “It is really impossible to predict what will happen for the next few years,” he said. “This may just be a lull in the epidemic or some new deadly drug will be introduced that exacerbates the situation.”

    For example, meth use is becoming more popular among opioid users. While there are established medication-assisted treatment options for opioid use disorder, there are fewer options available for people who abuse methamphetamines.

    Although the national overdose rate declined, that was not universal among states. Some states, like Ohio, saw a significant decrease in overdose rates. Others, including Missouri and New Jersey, had more overdoses in 2018 than they did in 2017.

    In general, the CDC data showed that overdoses increased in the west and southwest, and decreased in the east.

    The overdose rate national remains very high compared with previous decades. In 1999 overdoses accounted for 6.1 deaths per 100,000. In 2018, they made up 20.7 deaths per 100,000.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Community Of Responders Campaign Aims To End Overdose Deaths

    Community Of Responders Campaign Aims To End Overdose Deaths

    The program’s goal is for naloxone to be deployed within six minutes of an overdose starting, drastically increasing the chances of the victims’ survival.

    A new campaign growing out of Green, Ohio aims to turn community members into lifesaving first responders who are ready to act in case of an opioid overdose. Combining the efforts of Cover2 Resources, NaloxBox, NaloxoFind, Project DAWN and ODMAP, the Community of First Responders (CFR) is the first of its kind in the U.S.

    CFR was organized by Greg McNeil, founder of Cover2 Resources. McNeil lost his son, Sam, to a heroin overdose and has since dedicated his life to combating the epidemic of opioid overdose in the country.

    His latest endeavor began early this year when he met one of the creators of NaloxBox—wall-mounted boxes similar to those containing AEDs but that contain naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug. These boxes can be installed anywhere, including public buildings and businesses.

    McNeil was then connected to the founder of NaloxoFind, an app that allows anyone to find naloxone locations in the area. Combining these two just made sense, but McNeil’s primary concern was that ambulances often take too long to reach individuals suffering an overdose. 

    “When a 911 call comes in about an overdose, first responders have six minutes to respond before there is brain damage,” McNeil explained to The Fix. “In 10 minutes, they’re gone.”

    For maximum life-saving potential, McNeil came up with the idea to recruit members of the public to keep naloxone on their person and respond to overdose cases after being alerted via text message when one is reported nearby. The hope is that this program will allow naloxone to be deployed within six minutes of an overdose starting, drastically increasing the chances of the victims’ survival. 

    Green, Ohio will be the testing ground for this program. McNeil had worked previously with Green Mayor Gerard Neugebauer, who was described as being very supportive of the CFR program. NaloxBoxes have already been approved for parts of the city that are most prone to seeing overdose cases. 

    “The installations will take place over the next two weeks in five hotels along the I-77 corridor covering all three interchanges in the City of Green and at Akron Canton Airport,” said McNeil. “To the best of our knowledge, these are the first NaloxBox installations in hotels and airports in the country.”

    The official launch date for CFR is June 20, when McNeil and other leaders in the fight against the opioid crisis will host a community event presenting the new program, holding a live demonstration, and treating guests to a to-be-announced musical guest. 

    So far, the Green community has been overwhelmingly supportive of CFR even before its launch—and McNeil has set ambitious goals for its future.

    “Our immediate goal is to complete installation and training for all participating hotel and airport personnel by our event launch. After the official launch of the CFR program, our goal will be to double the number of participating businesses by the end of the year.”

    Check out the Cover2 Resources podcast for more information.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • New York Launches Fentanyl Education Campaign

    New York Launches Fentanyl Education Campaign

    The campaign will target neighborhoods that have been hit hardest by the opioid epidemic and will promote the carrying and use of naloxone.

    The New York Health Department launched a public information campaign Tuesday designed to prevent overdose deaths by educating opioid users on safe use and especially on the dangers of fentanyl.

    The campaign will target neighborhoods that have been hit hardest by the opioid epidemic and will promote the carrying and use of naloxone, a medication that blocks opioid receptors in the brain and can stop a dangerous overdose.

    According to New York Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot, fentanyl – the synthetic opioid that’s up to 50 times more potent than heroin – is “driving the overdose epidemic in New York City.”

    “People who use drugs should know there are ways to reduce their risk of overdose,” said Barbot in a statement. “If you use drugs, don’t use them by yourself; if you overdose, someone else will need to call 911. This information can save lives.”

    Campaign posters and ads on subways, bus shelters, billboards, and the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, to name a just a few spots, will warn drug users that fentanyl can be found in illicit batches of heroin, cocaine, crack, and other common street drugs. Its tasteless and odorless, making detection impossible without special kits, and can easily cause rapid and deadly overdose. Other advice includes never using alone, avoiding mixing drugs, and carrying naloxone whenever possible.

    For $730,000, a small bill for a city of this size, HealingNYC estimates that up to 400 lives could be saved before 2022. City Council Health Committee Chair Mark Levine stressed that saving as many lives as possible needs to be the goal, regardless of whether the drugs involved are legal.

    “Every New Yorker should know that if you use drugs, there are things you can do to mitigate the chances of a deadly overdose,” said Levine. “We need to be open and honest about drug use in New Your City and make the use of drugs, even if illegal, as safe as possible. This program will save lives.”

    A related public awareness campaign to provide free fentanyl testing kits to the public has seen a fair amount of success. According to Junior Bazile, Director Of Programs for New York Harm Reduction Educators, the organization has seen “considerable increase in the uptake of those testing kits.”

    Nationally, synthetic opioids (mostly fentanyl) were involved in 19,413 of the 42,249 opioid overdose deaths in 2016, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

    In New York City alone, there were 1,487 overdose deaths in 2017, with 57% of them involving fentanyl. Information campaigns and efforts to distribute and train people in the use of naloxone seem to be helping, but nothing will be certain until more recent numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are published.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Overdose Death Rates Skyrocket Among Middle-Aged Women

    Overdose Death Rates Skyrocket Among Middle-Aged Women

    Overdose death rates among women aged 30 to 64 years rose by 260% between 1999 and 2017.

    A recent news story from KNXV-TV adds a human perspective to recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about a demographic on the rise for national drug overdose deaths.

    The Phoenix, Arizona-based ABC affiliate profiled several area women who developed dependencies on drugs or alcohol between the ages of 40 and 64.

    Addiction treatment centers in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area reported an increase in admission for women in that age group, which coincides with the CDC’s report that overdose death rates among women aged 30 to 64 years rose by 260% between 1999 and 2017.

    To determine this statistic, the CDC reported in January 2019 that it had examined overdose death rates for this age group during the aforementioned time period, and categorized these fatalities according to drug subcategories, including antidepressants, cocaine, heroin, prescription opioids and synthetic opioids (except methadone).

    From this data, they determined that the unadjusted drug overdose death rate increased from 6.7 deaths per 100,000 population (or 4,314 total drug overdose deaths) in 1999 to 24.3 (or 18,110 deaths) in 2017. 

    The rate of overdose deaths involving any opioid increased 492% during this time period, while nearly all subcategories of drugs saw increases in deaths, save for cocaine, which decreased significantly between 2006 and 2009. The highest death rate increases involved synthetic opioids (1,643%), heroin (915%) and benzodiazepines (830%).

    Those figures reflect the experiences of the women profiled in the KNXV piece. Pamela Aguilu became dependent on prescription opioids after undergoing spinal surgeries. “I would say that I got addicted right away,” she said. “I was taking massive amounts of oxycodone.”

    Aguilu expressed gratitude that she had not become one of the overdose statistics cited by the CDC. But she certainly came close. After confronting a police officer who had been sent by her landlord, Aguilu said, “The last thing I remember is the ER physician saying we need the Narcan now, and then I was out. I was out for two days.”

    KNXV also cited Cheryl Hawley, a clinical director at the Valley Hope alcohol and drug treatment center, who said that women between 30 and 64 often put their roles as mother, wife and homemaker ahead of their own health, and then refuse to share their struggles with their families.

    Aguilu agrees. “You hit middle age, and you think you’ve got it all figured out,” she said. “We live in a society where we take pills for everything.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Ohio Officials Issue Warning After Spike In Drug Overdose Deaths

    Ohio Officials Issue Warning After Spike In Drug Overdose Deaths

    Fentanyl is widely believed to be the major cause of a recent overdose wave that hit multiple Ohio counties.

    Ohio law enforcement and health officials are warning residents to be extra cautious around illicit drugs, following a spike in overdoses this week that officials believe was caused by fentanyl found in cocaine and methamphetamine. 

    On Sunday (May 19), officials in Hamilton County, which includes the city of Cincinnati, warned about a spike in overdoses. The county saw at least 15 emergency room visits caused by overdoses in the 24 hours leading up to 6 a.m. on May 19.

    “Fentanyl continues to be a major cause of overdose and is being mixed with cocaine and meth,” Tom Synan, a local police chief, said in a Facebook post sharing the press release. “Stopping fentanyl coming into the country should be the national priority. This will continue until it is. More needs to be done.”

    In the release, officials warned law enforcement to not field test drugs, and to use safety equipment like gloves. The warning encouraged people to carry extra doses of the overdose drug Narcan, and to administer it any time someone was overdosing, even if they didn’t think they had ingested opioids. It also encouraged active drug users to take precautions like never using alone.

    In addition, it warned people not to leave the hospital against medical advice after receiving Narcan, the opioid overdose-reversing drug, since certain opioids can last longer than the drug and people can possibly overdose again hours after receiving it. 

    On May 23, officials in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, issued a similar warning. There, seven people died from overdoses over two days, according to Fox 8 Cleveland. 

    “The recent spike in overdose deaths, which has also been noted across Ohio, is concerning and still likely a result of fentanyl. Fentanyl is continuing to impact our communities, both in the City of Cleveland and suburbs,” said Dr. Thomas Gilson, Cuyahoga County medical examiner, in a statement on Thursday (May 23). 

    In a post sharing that statement, Synan wrote, “Fentanyl is still cause of immediate OD/deaths on its own in cocaine & meth. Those using any street drugs should carry Narcan. If you use drugs no matter where you live, your race or religion—fentanyl could be in your drugs. Almost half of OD deaths across the country involving cocaine and meth have had fentanyl in it or used with it. You don’t know what’s in your drugs. Even if you do—you are not being ‘safe’ with illicit fentanyl. No illicit drug is ‘safe.’”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Harm Reduction Advocate Who Lost Son To Overdose Joins Drug Policy Alliance

    Harm Reduction Advocate Who Lost Son To Overdose Joins Drug Policy Alliance

    In her new role, Joy Fishman is working on behalf of the legacy of both her husband, who invented naloxone, and her son.

    Her husband invented naloxone. But that wasn’t enough to save her son from a fatal opioid overdose. Now, Joy Fishman channels her grief through advocacy for harm reduction policies toward drug use.

    To further her important work—including expanding syringe access programs in Florida—Fishman has joined the Drug Policy Alliance as its newest board member.

    The drug policy organization announced in early April that Fishman will be joining its Board of Directors.

    Her late husband, Jack Fishman, was the first to synthesize naloxone in 1961. In 1971, the drug was approved by the FDA. But Fishman never profited from the enormous potential of the opioid antagonist. He let the original patent expire and did not reapply for one, allowing Big Pharma to get a hold of it.

    Demand for the lifesaving medication significantly expanded over the last decade as the opioid epidemic’s death toll increased. Through the advocacy of organizations like the Drug Policy Alliance, naloxone has become a household name.

    Last April, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams urged more people to carry naloxone so they may be equipped to save a life. “Each day we lose 115 Americans to an opioid overdose—that’s one person every 12.5 minutes,” said Adams. “It is time to make sure more people have access to this lifesaving medication, because 77% of opioid overdose deaths occur outside of a medical setting and more than half occur at home.”

    In 2003, it wasn’t as easy to access naloxone. That year, Joy’s son Jonathan died from a heroin overdose. “It never even occurred to us that naloxone could save Jonathan,” Joy said to the Huffington Post in 2014. “Back then we didn’t think of naloxone as a household item. Doctors weren’t writing take-home prescriptions for it. It was hard for Jack to get naloxone even though he invented it!”

    Jack Fishman regretted that he couldn’t prevent the death of his stepson. “One of Jack’s greatest sadnesses was that he couldn’t save my brother,” said Julie Stampler, Jonathan’s sister. “Jack had invented naloxone so many years ago that he had no connection to it anymore.”

    With her new role at the Drug Policy Alliance, Fishman is working on behalf of the legacy of both her husband and her son. Expanding access to naloxone is just one of her goals.

    At the 2017 International Drug Policy Reform Conference, Fishman accepted the Norman E. Zinberg Award for Achievement in the Field of Medicine on behalf of her husband.

    “I don’t want any more mothers to experience the same pain I have,” she said. “I’m not a fearless person, but I have drawn strength from the Drug Policy Alliance and their work. I feel such immense gratitude to be able to collaborate with them to honor the life of my son and to fulfill the promise of my husband’s work.”

    View the original article at thefix.com