Tag: overdose deaths

Fentanyl, Other Synthetic Drugs Drive National Overdose Rates Up

Nearly 30,000 Americans died from overdoses stemming from fentanyl and other synthetic opioids in 2017.

Driven in large part by widespread opioid use, the number of drug overdoses nationwide shot up nearly 10% last year, according to preliminary federal figures.

The U.S. clocked more than 72,000 drug fatalities in 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported last week. That’s up by more than 6,000 from the 2016 figures, bringing the tally to nearly 200 deaths a day—more than the total number of gun, car crash or HIV deaths in any single year, ever.

But the new numbers—which represent a two-fold increase over 10 years ago—could actually be underestimating the true scope of the problem as full data from some states still isn’t in yet.

A big chunk of the increase—nearly 50,000 fatalities—comes from opioid deaths, a category that’s more than quadrupled since 2002. An increase in cocaine fatalities is also feeding into the higher figures.

Meanwhile heroin, painkiller, and methadone fatality figures have started to flatten out; it’s fentanyl deaths that are continuing to rise. Last year, close to 30,000 Americans died from overdoses stemming from fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.

“Seventy-five percent of the deaths we get are fentanyl-related,” Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the Ocean County, New Jersey prosecutor, told the Washington Post. “It’s the heroin laced with synthetic opioids that we’re getting creamed with.”

The biggest increases are in some of the East Coast states already hardest hit by opioids, including Ohio, West Virginia and New Jersey.

In part, that’s due to the geography of drug-trafficking patterns. On the East Coast, heroin typically comes in a stronger powdered form—a form more easily mixed with deadly fentanyl. But in the western part of the country, cartels bring in black tar heroin from Mexico, which is both weaker and harder to mix with fentanyl.

“It is the 2.0 of drugs right now, the synthetics,” Tom Synan, the police chief in Newtown, Ohio, told the Post.

The current influx in opioid fatalities is commonly traced back to the 1990s, when drugmakers pushed addictive painkillers and doctors overprescribed them.

Over a decade later, heroin took hold again when a cheap supply reshaped the market. But in recent years, it’s the introduction of fentanyl and other powerful synthetics that has driven the crisis to a deadlier point.

And now that there’s finally been a downturn in some types of opioid fatalities, experts predict that any downward trend could be gradual given the nature of addiction and the stigma surrounding it.

“Because it’s a drug epidemic as opposed to an infectious disease epidemic like Zika, the response is slower,” University of California San Francisco professor Dan Ciccarone told the New York Times. “Because of the forces of stigma, the population is reluctant to seek care. I wouldn’t expect a rapid downturn; I would expect a slow, smooth downturn.”

View the original article at thefix.com

20 August 2018
Ex-Boyfriend of Bethenny Frankel Dies From Apparent Overdose

Dennis Shields appeared on several “Real Housewives of New York” episodes alongside Frankel.

Dennis Shields, who dated the Real Housewives of New York star Bethenny Frankel, was found dead in his apartment in the Trump Tower from what police sources reported as a suspected overdose.

The 51-year-old, who appeared in several episodes of the Bravo reality show, was reported to have asked his assistant to administer the overdose reversal drug Narcan at around 9 a.m. on August 10; the New York Police Department confirmed that they responded to a 911 call that morning in regard to an unconscious male, who was pronounced “deceased on scene” by emergency medical services.

The medical examiner’s office stated that a report on the cause and manner of Shields’ death will be released after completion of an investigation.

Shields was the CEO of the litigation-funding firm LawCash and oversaw several other finance-related companies. He had known Frankel for nearly three decades through her friendship with his wife, Jill Shields, and began dating her after their separation in 2016.

Their relationship traversed on-and-off arcs for several years, which was showcased on Real Housewives, and while the couple was reportedly apart at the time of Shields’ death, a source reported that they remained close.

As both TMZ and the New York Post reported, a spokeperson for the NYPD confirmed that officers responded to a 911 call for an unresponsive male at Shields’ corner apartment on the 42nd floor of Trump Tower at approximately 9:19 a.m. on the 10th.

Sources told TMZ that Shields had asked his assistant to give him a dose of Narcan before slipping into unconsciousness. The medication failed to revive him.

Emergency medical responders reported that Shields was pronounced dead at the scene; though cause of death was not given, sources told TMZ that oxycodone may have been involved in the overdose. According to the New York Times, it is not clear if the drug was prescribed for Shields.

In a statement to People, Shields’ estranged wife, Jill Shields, said, “We are all heartbroken. Dennis was, and will always be, the love of my life. His spirit lives on in our children and our future grandchildren.” She also posted photos of Shields and their four children on her Instagram account.

Frankel also took to Instagram to pay tribute to Shields. She posted a photo of Shields laying beside her dog with the caption, “Rest In Peace my sweet babies who gave me endless unconditional love. #nowandforever.”

View the original article at thefix.com

14 August 2018
Maryland Hit With Record Number Of Fentanyl Deaths

“It’s terrifying that we’re at a point where the numbers escalate every year. We don’t even know where the peak is,” said Baltimore’s health commissioner.

Maryland hit a sobering new milestone last year: The state saw more fentanyl deaths than ever before. And this year, it turns out, is already on track to set another disquieting record.

Of the state’s more than 2,200 intoxication deaths last year, roughly 90% were opioid-related and more than 1,500 involved fentanyl, according to health department data.

“It’s terrifying that we’re at a point where the numbers escalate every year. We don’t even know where the peak is,” Dr. Leana Wen, Baltimore’s health commissioner, told the Associated Press.

But that’s not true across the board. While fentanyl fatalities soared from 1,119 in 2016 to 1,594 last year in a more than 40% jump, heroin deaths are down 11% in the same period.

Prescription opioid fatalities are down a bit too, though cocaine deaths have jumped up some 49%. Most of that is likely due to the increasing appearance of fentanyl mixed in with coke, state officials said, according to the Washington Post.

Overall, the “large majority” of the fentanyl deaths occurred in Baltimore, the notoriously drug-riddled Charm City. There, 573 people died of fentanyl overdoses. Four years earlier, the city saw just 12 such fatalities. “That’s a 5,000% increase in four years,” Wen said.

The new data comes just over a year after Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency in light of the ongoing opioid epidemic.

“We need to treat this crisis the exact same way we treat any other state emergency,” he said in a press conference at the time, while announcing an influx of roughly $50 million in funding to combat the problem. “As this crisis evolves, so must our response to it.”

The crisis in Maryland mirrors struggles playing out in states across the country as overdose deaths are driven up by the prevalence of dangerously strong synthetic opioids like fentanyl and the even stronger carfentanil.

So far, the problem doesn’t seem poised to improve in 2018. The first three months of the year notched up 653 accidental drug deaths in the state—and 500 of them involved fentanyl, state data showed.

View the original article at thefix.com

30 July 2018
Grieving Mothers Band Together To Support People In Recovery

“If we can save just one person, it’s worth it,” said one of the mothers in the Moms of Cherished Angels group.

A group of grieving mothers are turning their losses into something positive.

The Moms of Cherished Angels—a group of women who lost a child or family member to drugs—donate toothpaste, shampoo, other toiletries, and notebooks to people entering rehab across Pennsylvania.

In each care package, they add a note telling their story.

“We decided we wanted to do something to keep our children’s memories alive and help others suffering with this horrible disease,” said Judy Provanzo, whose son Michael died last August.

Judy and her husband decided to address Michael’s drug use in his obituary: “We do not want his death to be in vain,” it read. “Michael did not want to be an addict. His demons were more than he could handle. Addiction is a disease and does not discriminate. Many loved ones did everything they could to get him to stop but the drugs won their battle.”

After that, others who had lost loved ones to drugs reached out to Provanzo, and from there, the support group formed. The women meet every week. One member, who lost her daughter in 2016, called it a “sisterhood.”

“Everybody is different and everybody grieves differently,” said Provanzo. “We get to different places in the process at different times. But if we didn’t have this every Tuesday, I’d be in a loony bin.”

The support of others who are going through the same experience is invaluable to the grieving moms. “We understand one another. There are times we’ll say, ‘Did you get out of bed today?’” said Provanzo.

In her note about Mikey, Provanzo wrote: “The day Mikey died a part of me and his father died with him. I’m sharing this with you in hopes it helps you along your journey. Mikey always thought he had his addiction under control and this wouldn’t happen to him. If you’re feeling like you want to give up, please think of Mikey and how my heart is breaking not having him. Remember you are loved and you can do this one day at a time.”

The mothers honor the memory of their children and loved ones by supporting not only one another, but others in recovery.

“If we can save just one person, it’s worth it,” said Kim Janeczek, who lost her 21-year-old son Matthew in 2017.

In her care package note she wrote, “He had a heart of gold. He helped so many people in the short time he was here.”

View the original article at thefix.com

10 July 2018
Overdoses Increasingly Lead To Criminal Charges

Family members and the public aren’t convinced that prosecuting friends—who are often on drugs themselves—is the best use of resources.

When someone dies from an overdose it is undeniably a tragedy, but is there someone to blame? Increasingly, the answer—legally speaking—is yes.

It’s becoming more common for authorities to charge family members, friends and dealers with homicide for their role in securing drugs, or even their presence when the drugs were taken, according to a report by The New York Times.

“I look at it in a real micro way,” Pete Orput, the chief prosecutor in Washington County outside Minneapolis, told the paper. “You owe me for that dead kid.”

Mark S. Rubin, a county attorney in Minnesota who has brought charges related to overdoses, said that the situation is complicated, but ultimately there is criminal responsibility.

“People agree, you know, there’s nobody forcing someone to take the controlled substance. But somebody might agree to take it from their friend or their boyfriend or girlfriend and they end up dying because of it,” Rubin said. “We feel that constitutes a crime of possibly murder in the third degree, but at least manslaughter in the second degree.”

The Times found that in 15 states that keep records, there have been more than 1,000 charges of homicides related to overdose deaths since 2015. Between 2015 and 2017, prosecutions of this nature nearly doubled.

While law enforcement officials say that this tough approach is justified and will stem the use of drugs, family members and the public aren’t convinced that prosecuting friends—who are often on drugs themselves—is the best use of resources.

“It’s kind of like blaming the leaves on the tree, you know?” said Michael Malcolm, of Breckenridge, Colorado, whose younger son was charged with the death of his brother, who overdosed on drugs that the boys had bought together online. “What about the roots?”

The Times investigation found that charges are brought under a variety of laws. Twenty states have specifically made delivering drugs that result in death a crime. Others use standard homicide and manslaughter charges. In some cases, friends and family have been charged with dealing or distributing drugs, even if they did not exchange drugs for money with the person who died.

“State laws vary, but drug ‘distribution’ or ‘delivery’ is generally not limited to selling,” the Times reporters wrote in an accompanying question and answer piece. “It can include sharing drugs, giving them away, or having a friend pay you back for drugs you bought.”

Many states have Good Samaritan laws, which are meant to protect the person who calls 911 when someone is overdosing. Often, these laws protect someone who may also be using, but if that person was involved in securing the drugs that caused the overdose they can still be charged, according to the report. Vermont and Delaware are the only states that explicitly protect callers from prosecution.

View the original article at thefix.com

4 July 2018
Opioid Deaths Have Surpassed Vietnam War Fatalities, Study Says

A new study examined the 15-year period from January 2001 to December 2016 to determine the number of American deaths caused by the opioid crisis.

American deaths as a result of the opioid crisis have surpassed those during the Vietnam War, a new study has found.

According to the Washington Post, less than 1% of American deaths in the year 1968 were due to serving in the Vietnam war. Now, a new study has found that in 2016, 1.5% of deaths were at the hands of opioids.

The study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, looked at the 15-year period from January 2001 to December 2016 to determine the number of American deaths caused by the opioid crisis.

It found that between 2001 and 2016, the number of deaths caused by the opioid crisis rose from 9,489 to 42 ,245—a 345% increase.

According to the study, in 2001, opioids were responsible for 0.4% of deaths, or 1 in 255 people. But 15 years later, in 2016, that rose to 1.5%, or 1 in 65 deaths—a 292% increase. Study authors found that the greatest impact was on those ages 24 to 35, an age group in which 20% of deaths were associated with opioids. Study authors also found that deaths connected to opioids were more prominent in men than women.

In all, study authors estimate that in 2016 alone, nearly 1.7 million years of life were lost in the U.S. population due to the opioid crisis.

“These findings highlight changes in the burden of opioid-related deaths over time and across demographic groups in the United States,” study authors wrote. “They demonstrate the important role of opioid overdose in deaths of adolescents and young adults as well as the disproportionate burden of overdose among men.”

Study findings also indicated that there has been an increase in the number of opioid-related deaths in those 55 and older.

“The relative increase in recent years requires attention, as it could be indicative of an aging population with increasing prevalence of opioid use disorder,” study authors noted. “This is particularly problematic as recent estimates from the United States suggest that the prevalence of opioid misuse among adults aged 50 years and older is expected to double (from 1.2% to 2.4%) between 2004 and 2020.”

Because of the impact on those of younger ages, study authors also indicated that there is a need to put more programs and policies in place.

“Premature death from opioid-related causes imposes an enormous public health burden across the United States,” study authors wrote. “The recent increase in deaths attributable to opioids among those aged 15 to 34 years highlights a need for targeted programs and policies that focus on improved addiction care and harm reduction measures in this high-risk population.”

According to the Post, this research leaned on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, which is thought to underestimate the number of opioid deaths by 20 to 30%, resulting in a “conservative estimate” of the true impact of the crisis.

View the original article at thefix.com

14 June 2018
Fentanyl-Related Deaths Skyrocket In Ohio

“There is nothing that worries me more than synthetic opiates—and what will be the next, more powerful synthetic that hits the street,” said one police official.

Fentanyl is taking over the illicit drug market in the greater Cincinnati area, sparking a 1,000% increase in overdose deaths in Hamilton County.

In 2013, authorities there logged 24 fentanyl-related deaths. Last year, they counted 324, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The drug’s popularity has grown so explosively it’s overshadowed heroin deaths. Last year, the Hamilton County coroner found fentanyl involved in 85% of overdose deaths the office examined, while the county’s crime lab detected the substance in more than 90% of the drugs tested in the first five months of this year.

“Fentanyl and similar synthetic opiates have produced overdoses and deaths in not only unprecedented numbers but previously unimaginable,” Newtown Police Chief Tom Synan told the Ohio paper. “It is no longer a heroin epidemic but a synthetic-opiate epidemic.”

The problem in Ohio mirrors the issue nationwide, Synan said. In 2016, according to a research letter published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, fentanyl was involved in roughly half of opioid-related deaths.

“It’s the small amounts of the extremely deadly substances that are killing people,” Hamilton County coroner Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco told the paper.

Just days after the Cincinnati paper published its report, the Billings Gazette in Montana detailed an apparent uptick in fentanyl-related deaths in the county that houses Fort Peck Indian Reservation. There, officials are bumping up naloxone training efforts and considering reactivating a regional drug task force.

And in May, the Minneapolis Star Tribune detailed a spike in fentanyl-related overdoses in Minnesota, where officials are pushing to treat fatal overdoses as homicides.

Even as the epidemic spreads, officials in Ohio are warning it could get worse as underground chemists start pumping out new analogues of the dangerous drug, some of which could be more potent.

And, as officials elsewhere have warned, fentanyl is starting to pop up in cocaine and meth supplies.

“The introduction of synthetic opiates like fentanyl has killed tens of thousands of Americans and should be seen as the country’s most pressing health, national security issue and social crisis we face right now,” Synan said. “There is nothing that worries me more than synthetic opiates—and what will be the next, more powerful synthetic that hits the street.”

View the original article at thefix.com

11 June 2018