According to preliminary data compiled by The New York Times, overdosing on drugs is now now the leading cause of death among Americans under the age of 50. The data is preliminary, but it shows that overdose deaths exceeded 59,000 in 2016. That's a whopping 19% increase from the 2015 number of 52,404, and throws the growing opioid epidemic under the spotlight.
The Prime Culprits
Most of the deaths have been tied to either heroin or prescription painkillers containing a synthetic opioid known as fentanyl. Why go to a drug dealer when you can have an equally powerful painkiller prescribed to you by a doctor? In Ohio, which has seen an increase in opioid related deaths higher than the national average, nearly four billion opiod pills were prescribed between 2011 and 2015.
Opioids have not just affected any one particular group. Rich or poor, black or white, old or young, opioids have felt the strangle of these deadly drugs. Just last week, a 911 operator in Akron received an emergency call after a 1-year-old stopped breathing after getting opioids in his system. The child later died.
As one medical examiner put it, opiate overdose deaths have claimed as many American lives as the entire Vietnam war.
The start of a fight back
It has been long overdue but states are now starting to sue the drug manufacturers, claiming that they knowingly minimized the risks of addiction. Ohio is now suing five big drug companies - Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Endo Health Solutions and Allergan - that manufacture prescription painkillers, charging that they knowingly minimize the risks of addiction.
Ohio is the second state to sue the drug companies, following Mississippi.
A personal note
After knee surgery, i was prescribed morphine to help with the pain. It was the sweetest drug and truly helped me to forget the intense pain. But even as it helped me forget the pain, i could feel it's addictive strangle, which is why i decided to give it up and live with the extra pain and lousy sleep.
In the linked article above, you can see how the pharma companies are accused of spending hundreds of millions on marketing the drugs as harmless. Clearly they're anything but harmless.
It's very unfortunate that many innocent lives have been claimed by this epidemic. There's a huge amount of work to be done in terms of government policies/regulations to deal with this issue.
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We think that opioids are a recent problem but they've been around for more than a hundred years. One of my favorite topics during History was the opium wars between Britain and China back in the 1800s. Basically, Britain got China so drugged up on opium and then forced concessions upon them when China resisted.
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I believe that Fentanyl has been a pretty major killer. Because of the high potency only a small amount is needed to overdose. Bad people lace drugs with them because its cheaper than the drug people think they're buying.
This may be the ratio of how much more powerful fentanyl is and how much is needed to OD. Don't quote me on that though. I'm sure there are people with more knowledge who will post.
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Wow if that's the amount to OD on fentanyl i can see why people are dying, especially if it's cheaper. Just need a shady dealer to sell fentanyl as a more expensive drug, and the victim would be none the wiser.
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That's a very telling photo.
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Its very sad, the number if abusers. @ironshield
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Well done for taking the painful route, though no-one wants to feel pain its better than addiction, and from what I read opioid withdrawal is both deeply unpleasant as well as medically dangerous.
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Thanks @scalextrix. It was only the second day of a one week course. I felt that the doctors were a little too quick to prescribe it. Maybe they don't know better given the sales and marketing push.
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If sales and marketing are causing doctors to forget their hippocratic oath, then something is seriously broken in the US heathcare system. However I dont think this is unique to the US and here in the UK I believe doctors over prescribe painkillers, anti-depressants and anti-biotics too; I think people have an expectation doctors will 'cure' them.
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That's true. At the start they could probably be forgiven because they didn't know any better. But now that it's all over the news there can be no excuse.
True here in Asia as well.
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Just thought i'd add this here since opioids go by many different names and many aren't sure of whether they're opioids or not:
Generic examples of opioids include - morphine, buprenorphine, methadone, hydrocodone, and oxycodone.
Then we have opioids sold under brand names which include - OxyContin®, Vicodin®, Percodan®, Percocet®, Tylox® and Demerol®
Lastly, there are illegal opioids like heroin.
Non-opioids include ecstasy, cocaine, meth.
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This post received a 40% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @numpypython! For more information on @randowhale click here!
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