Dealing with Drugs
A new report published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has claimed that illegally manufactured fentanyl was the major force leading to a 45.2-percent increase in deaths related to synthetic opioids from 2016 to 2017, according to a story by Debra Goldschmidt of CNN.
The story added that there were 70,237 deaths from drug overdoses in 2017. Opioids were implicated in 67.8 percent, or 47,600, of those deaths. Of that total, 59.8 percent of the deaths, or 28,466, were because of synthetic opioids.
According to the authors of the CDC study, “The opioid overdose epidemic continues to worsen and evolve because of the continuing increase in deaths involving synthetic opioids.” the authors wrote in the study.
Published online in the CDC’s MMWR, the report reviewed drug overdose deaths between 2013 and 17. During that period, “drug overdose death rates increased in 35 of 50 states and DC, and significant increases in death rates involving synthetic opioids occurred in 15 of 20 states,” the CDC revealed, while saying that the increase was probably driven by fentanyl that was illegally manufactured.
The CDC called fentanyl the deadliest drug in America. The agency’s National Center for Health Statistics issued a report showing that in 2016 “fentanyl surpassed heroin as the most commonly used drug in overdose deaths in the US.” The new report, which compared demographic and geographic data from 2016–17, found that West Virginia, Ohio and New Hampshire were the states with the highest number of synthetic opioid-involved overdose deaths in 2017. It also showed that 23 states and Washington, DC experienced “significant increases” in synthetic opioid-involved overdose death rates. No longer concentrated east of the Mississippi River, eight states west of the Mississippi experienced “significant increases” of synthetic opioid-related deaths: Arizona, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon, Texas and Washington.
In noting that drug overdoses and suicides caused drop in 2017 US life expectancy, the CDC director called the report a “wakeup call.” All demographics showed increases in overuse, with the largest relative change being in blacks and people over 65. While the number of deaths from synthetic opioids rose, overdose deaths from prescription opioids and heroin remained stable in the 2016–17 timeframe. Overdose deaths from cocaine increased more than 34 percent, and the rate of overdose deaths from psychostimulants increased more than 33 percent, according to the CDC report.
As the authors of the report said, “Through 2017, the drug overdose epidemic continues to worsen and evolve, and the involvement of many types of drugs (e.g., opioids, cocaine, and methamphetamine) underscores the urgency to obtain more timely and local data to inform public health and public safety action.” the authors of the report said. Still, the authors believe that there is good reason for cautious optimism. As they said in the report, “Provisional data from 2018 indicate potential improvements in some drug overdose indicators; however, analysis of final data from 2018 is necessary for confirmation.”
