Drug Poisoning Deaths

[JohnRich 4]

News:

Drug Poisoning Deaths in the United States, 1980–2008

"In 2008, the number of poisoning deaths exceeded the number of motor vehicle traffic deaths for the first time since at least 1980. In 2008, there were more than 41,000 poisoning deaths, compared with about 38,000 motor vehicle traffic deaths. In 2008, 89% of poisoning deaths were caused by drugs.

"During the past three decades, the poisoning death rate per 100,000 population nearly tripled from 4.8 in 1980 to 13.5 in 2008, while the motor vehicle traffic death rate decreased by almost one-half from 22.9 in 1980 to 12.5 in 2008 (Figure 1). In the most recent decade, from 1999 to 2008, the poisoning death rate increased 90%, while the motor vehicle traffic death rate decreased 15%.

"From 1980 to 2008, the percentage of poisoning deaths caused by drugs increased from 56% to 89%. In 2008, about 77% of the drug poisoning deaths were unintentional, 13% were suicides, and 9% were of undetermined intent."

Full story: CDC

I'm surprised - I had no idea this was happening.
What should/can be done about this serious and growing problem?

[quade 3]

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What should/can be done about this serious and growing problem?

Well, for one, you could try to not depress people on Christmas.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[JohnRich 4]

Let this be a warning to go easy on the egg nog!

Also today, we have people posting about boys dressing like girls, girls kissing girls, traitors giving away national secrets, and nutters with guns. Those aren't exactly traditional christmas themes either.

[kd5xb 1]

Be sure to avoid Tylenol Extra Strength capsules...

I'm a jumper. Even though I don't always have money for jumps, and may not ever own a rig again, I'll always be a jumper.

[Andrewwhyte 1]

This doesn't surprise me at all. The last ten-fifteen years or so has seen the gloves come off in the big pharma industry. We are bombarded with information beseeching us to take more and more drugs for ailments we didn't know existed let alone inflicted us. North Americans are more and more medicated. Another factor is the aging of society as seniors consume the lions share of drugs.
About five years ago I was preparing myself for my father's apparent oncoming death as he faded away from us both physically and mentally. One day my sister went into the house, emptied the medicine cabinet, marched into Dad's doctor's office and dumped the contents onto his desk. The doctor professed shock that Dad was on so many meds. Some had been prescribed by specialists and some by him but were not supposed to be indefinitely renewed. This last category included the Oxycodone. Dad went from 14 daily meds down to 3 and improved markedly.
I don't think my father is all that unusual. Everyone should make a point of insuring that all family members review their med regime with someone in the family once a year. Seniors should do it with a younger member of the family.
Getting back to your stats. It would be useful to separate the recreational/street drug deaths from the prescribed ones.

[jakee 1,254]

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What should/can be done about this serious and growing problem?

Well, for one, you could try to not depress people on Christmas.

But on the plus side, driving is getting safer. So yay!

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[StreetScooby 5]

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I don't think my father is all that unusual.

No, your father is not that unusual. Just spoke with my father on the phone. He's being doped up beyond belief for 25 years now, due to a work accident. Finally got "committed" to a hospital. Cleaned out his system, and his a different person now.

Doctors will kill you, if you let them.

We are all engines of karma

[diverborg 0]

My mom's in the same boat. She started having a bunch of problems when she started menopause, ended up with who knows how many different prescriptions from different specialists. She went cuckoo for a couple years till she finally realized she needed help and quit the meds altogether. She is slowly progressing and is almost back to her old self.

[wmw999 2,120]

My father died a couple of years ago at 92 without a ton of drugs; his last couple of years were compromised because of head injuries, but otherwise he was happy and in control of his life, in large part because he tried to prevent the kinds of illnesses that required drugs. I'm working on doing the same -- if I can eat differently or exercise more, the only downsides then are that I feel better all the time, instead of right after I take my prescriptions.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[kallend 1,623]

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News:

"In 2008, the number of poisoning deaths exceeded the number of motor vehicle traffic deaths for the first time since at least 1980...

...

What should/can be done about this serious and growing problem?

Drive faster, text while driving, and ignore red lights?

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Kennedy 0]

Do some drive-bys targeting doctors/pharmacists? Makes cars more dangerous, drugs less available, and lets hysterical people scream about guns and ignore the other two.

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

[sacex250 0]

Airbags for pills!

It's all been said before, no sense repeating it here.

[JohnRich 4]

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It would be useful to separate the recreational/street drug deaths from the prescribed ones.

Yes, I wondered about that too, but I'm not medically knoweledgeable enough to know from reading that report whether the things like "opiates" they were talking about are legal or illegal.

And if this is mostly illegal drug deaths, then that doesn't speak well for the idea of decriminalizing illegal drugs. If the situation is this bad now with the drugs made illegal, then it would only get worse if they were made legal and even more people started using and abusing them.

[quade 3]

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And if this is mostly illegal drug deaths, then that doesn't speak well for the idea of decriminalizing illegal drugs. If the situation is this bad now with the drugs made illegal, then it would only get worse if they were made legal and even more people started using and abusing them.

Sometimes the world is just damned ironic.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[skinnay 0]

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If the situation is this bad now with the drugs made illegal, then it would only get worse if they were made legal and even more people started using and abusing them.

Most ironic post of 2011?

[mutumbo 0]

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Be sure to avoid Tylenol Extra Strength capsules...

fun fact that you may or may not know. . . tylenol is one of the most common (if not the) drugs used in drug related suicide attempts. which is a HORRIBLE idea, because most times it does not kill you, yet will totally destroy your liver, making the rest of your life so much more fun.

and as far as the legal/illegal drug OD rates, most the ones i personally see are legal drugs abused or obtained illegally. things like lortabs, and xanax are the leaders that come to my mind. obviously this isnt a national standard, and may represent nothing but my own experience(but i HIGHLY doubt it, id venture the guess that it is nation wide), its just what i see on a daily basis.

and for reference, im a paramedic, so i see this shit first hand and almost daily.



and im not going to even go down the road of 14 docs prescribing 14 different kinds of meds all pretty much treating the same problem. . .

Thanatos340(on landing rounds)--
Landing procedure: Hand all the way up, Feet and Knees Together and PLF soon as you get bitch slapped by a planet.

[jakee 1,254]

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And if this is mostly illegal drug deaths, then that doesn't speak well for the idea of decriminalizing illegal drugs. If the situation is this bad now with the drugs made illegal, then it would only get worse if they were made legal and even more people started using and abusing them.

Sometimes the world is just damned ironic.

Guns don't kill people, drugs kill people!

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[RonD1120 58]

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I don't think my father is all that unusual.

No, your father is not that unusual. Just spoke with my father on the phone. He's being doped up beyond belief for 25 years now, due to a work accident. Finally got "committed" to a hospital. Cleaned out his system, and his a different person now.

Doctors will kill you, if you let them.

The general rule of thumb when I worked in the psych facility, if the patient is on more than six Rx meds an evaluation is ordered.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[kd5xb 1]

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Be sure to avoid Tylenol Extra Strength capsules...

fun fact that you may or may not know. . . tylenol is one of the most common (if not the) drugs used in drug related suicide attempts. which is a HORRIBLE idea, because most times it does not kill you, yet will totally destroy your liver, making the rest of your life so much more fun.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Tylenol_murders

I'm a jumper. Even though I don't always have money for jumps, and may not ever own a rig again, I'll always be a jumper.

[PiLFy 0]

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It would be useful to separate the recreational/street drug deaths from the prescribed ones.

Yes, I wondered about that too, but I'm not medically knoweledgeable enough to know from reading that report whether the things like "opiates" they were talking about are legal or illegal.

Summary

In 2008, the number of poisoning deaths exceeded the number of motor vehicle traffic deaths and was the leading cause of injury death for the first time since at least 1980. During the past three decades, the poisoning death rate nearly tripled, while the motor vehicle traffic death rate decreased by one-half. During this period, the percentage of poisoning deaths that were caused by drugs increased from about 60% to about 90%.

The population groups with the highest drug poisoning death rates in 2008 were males, people aged 45–54 years, and non-Hispanic white and American Indian or Alaska Native persons. The vast majority of drug poisoning deaths are unintentional (see Appendix table). Opioid analgesics were involved in more drug poisoning deaths than other specified drugs, including heroin and cocaine. Opioid analgesics were involved in nearly 15,000 deaths in 2008, while cocaine was involved in about 5,100 deaths and heroin was involved in about 3,000 deaths (data not shown). Deaths involving opioid analgesics may involve other drugs as well, including benzodiazepines (2).

In addition to an increase in the number of deaths caused by drug poisoning, increases in drug use, abuse, misuse, and nonfatal health outcomes have been observed. In the past two decades, there has been an increase in the distribution and medical use of prescription drugs, including opioid analgesics (3). From 1999 to 2008, the use of prescription medications increased (4). In 2007–2008, 48% of Americans used at least one prescription drug in the past month and 11% of Americans used five or more prescriptions in the past month. Analgesics for pain relief were among the common drugs taken by adults aged 20–59 years (4). In 2009–2010, over 5 million Americans reported using prescription pain relievers nonmedically in the past month (that is, without a doctor's prescription or only for the experience or feeling they caused), and the majority of people using prescription pain relievers nonmedically reported getting the drugs from friends or family (5,6). From 2004 to 2008, the estimated rate of emergency department visits involving nonmedical use of opioid analgesics doubled from 49 per 100,000 to 101 per 100,000 (7).

Government agencies and other organizations joined together to achieve great reductions in the number of deaths from motor vehicle crashes in the past three decades (8,9). A comprehensive approach, including improvements in the safety of vehicles; improvements in roadways; increased use of restraint systems, such as seat belts and child safety seats; reductions in speed; and also efforts to reduce driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, contributed to the decline in motor vehicle related deaths (8,9). Using a comprehensive, multifaceted approach, it may be possible to reverse the trend in drug poisoning mortality.


Definitions

Injury deaths: Include deaths that are caused by forces external to the body. Examples of causes of injury death include drowning, fall, firearm, fire or burn, motor vehicle traffic, poisoning, and suffocation.

Poisoning deaths: Include drug poisonings resulting from unintentional or intentional overdoses of a drug, being given the wrong drug, taking the wrong drug in error, or taking a drug inadvertently. Poisoning deaths also include poisoning resulting from other toxic substances, gases, or vapors.

Opioid analgesics: Drugs that are usually prescribed to relieve pain and include: Natural and semi-synthetic opioid analgesics such as morphine, codeine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone; methadone, which is a synthetic opioid analgesic used to treat opioid dependency as well as pain; and other synthetic opioid analgesics (excluding methadone) such as fentanyl and propoxyphene. Opium and heroin are not included in this class of drugs

[JohnRich 4]

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And if this is mostly illegal drug deaths, then that doesn't speak well for the idea of decriminalizing illegal drugs. If the situation is this bad now with the drugs made illegal, then it would only get worse if they were made legal and even more people started using and abusing them.

Sometimes the world is just damned ironic.

If you are referring to my stance on guns, the situations are not equal.

Drugs are illegal, and drug deaths are increasing at an alarming rate.

Guns are legal and always have been, and gun crime has decreased steadily to a 30-year low. Gun ownership and gun carry laws have become more widespread and gun crime has still gone down anyway.

Do you think that same trend would happen with drug poisoning deaths if illegal drugs were made legal?

[quade 3]

Whatever gets you through the night, JR.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Andrewwhyte 1]

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And if this is mostly illegal drug deaths, then that doesn't speak well for the idea of decriminalizing illegal drugs. If the situation is this bad now with the drugs made illegal, then it would only get worse if they were made legal and even more people started using and abusing them.

I think there would be a spike in deaths; sort of a coiled spring effect. The increase would be unlikely to be sustained.
In Canada many provinces still have very restrictive alcohol sales laws with a provincial government monopoly. In British Columbia all liquor flows through the liquor board and resellers are very restricted to location and hours of operation. 30 miles from Vancouver in Washington state liquor is sold in the supermarkets and corner stores. It has been argued in BC that increasing the availability (and the price compitition) would increase abuse problems. The fault with that logic is that Washington State does not have a worse alcohol abuse problem than BC even with its cheaper and more available product. This despite the fact that they are very similar societies otherwise.

[Andy9o8 0]

Valid commentary. There are several states in the US that have the same kind of restrictive, state-run monopoly on liquor sales, which abut other states that allow open capitalism in, and easy access (aside from age) to, alcohol sales. Virtually identical remarks apply to those examples, too.

[jakee 1,254]

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And if this is mostly illegal drug deaths, then that doesn't speak well for the idea of decriminalizing illegal drugs. If the situation is this bad now with the drugs made illegal, then it would only get worse if they were made legal and even more people started using and abusing them.

Sometimes the world is just damned ironic.

If you are referring to my stance on guns, the situations are not equal.

Drugs are illegal, and drug deaths are increasing at an alarming rate.

JohnRich: "I'm not medically knoweledgeable [sic] enough to know from reading that report whether the things like "opiates" they were talking about are legal or illegal."

Found some more medical knowledge in the past few hours, did we?

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Do you think that same trend would happen with drug poisoning deaths if illegal drugs were made legal?

Quite possibly. There are several potential benefits, just as there are potential downsides.

However, since you have just pointed out that you do not believe that anti-drug laws are having the desired effect, why keep them illegal? After all, you always tout the ineffectiveness of anti-gun laws as a reason to scrap them.

Funny how what on one foot is a sensible step, on the other is a knee-jerk reaction.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?