Drug overdose deaths at an all-time high.

[tRidiot]

The good news is that Oklahoma no longer leads the nation, like we did a couple of years ago. Overall rates continue to climb, however. Oklahoma ranks in the second-highest category at 20-30 per 100,000.


http://www.aol.com/article/2015/12/...6180/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000058&intcmp=hplnws

Drug overdose deaths are at an all-time high

Drug overdoses leading to death were at an all-time high in 2014, when drug overdose rate spiked 137 percent since 2000. That's one and a half times more deaths than those resulting from car accidents.
According to newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdose deaths rose from 2013 to 2014 for both men and women of all age groups 25 and older. The states where the death rate increased over the same period were Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The five states with the highest rates of drug overdose deaths were West Virginia, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Kentucky and Ohio.
More than 60 percent involved heroin or prescription narcotic painkillers. Heroin deaths have more than tripled in the past four years, and deaths from synthetic opioids almost doubled between 2013 and 2014, according to CDC data. Experts believe prescription opioid abuse is a factor that could lead to using heroin. Heroin is often cheaper and more available than opioids.

Looks like Oklahoma's rate went from 20.8 in 2013 to 20.3 in 2014 (from 790 to 777), a whopping 1.5% decrease. This was one of the few states that had a decline, however it was not a statistically significant change.

I can tell you there have been significant improvements and effort made at the state level into changing this trend, but it is a massively uphill battle.

 

[tRidiot]

According to my interpretation... of the 10 states with rates over 20 per 100,000...

4 are Red states - WV, UT, OK, and KY

4 are Blue states - PA, NH, DE, RI

One is predominantly Blue (3 out of 4 last Presidential elections) - NM

One is split Red/Blue (2 out of the last 4 Presidential elections) - OH


Only 2 states had double-digit percentage decreases - NV and MT

while

16 states had double-digit percentage increases.

One state (ND) had a 125% increase - but their rate per capita is still about 1/4 of Oklahoma's.


Some sobering stats.



More than 1 1/2 times the number of people killed in auto accidents. Wow.

 

[Okie4570]

Was just reading an article the other day about NH and its heroine issues.

 

[Fyrtwuck]

It's not over yet. Lots of overdoses and suicides during the holiday season.

 

[TedKennedy]

They should pass a law outlawing these drugs. For the children.

 

[indi]

They should pass a law outlawing these drugs. For the children.

Ban high cap pill bottles

 

[RickN]

What they are not telling you is that one big factor in why there are now more overdoses then deaths in auto accidents, is because deaths in auto accidents have fallen off sharply. The Washington Post tried to make it sound like gun deaths had gone up by a headline saying that you were now just as likely to die by gun violence as in a auto accident. Only down in the story did they admit that deaths in auto accidents had dropped a lot and that 2/3 of the gun deaths were suicides. Suicides could account for many of the ODs too.

 

[Defnestor]

Darwinism.
I think it was Larry Niven who called it "evolution in action". By people who abuse drugs removing themselves from the gene pool, we reduce the likelihood of future generations abusing drugs.

 

[Cowman]

In the Shady Five Eighty where I practice as a Paramedic. Heroin and PCP is making a comeback. I have been told that Doctor's are not writing RX's for Oxy like they were. So addicts are going for Heroin. I had a 20 something year old first time user. Clean cut wearing girl jeans. Laid out in his nice ride behind a bar. Damm near dead. Narcan did the trick.

 

[TedKennedy]

In the Shady Five Eighty where I practice as a Paramedic. Heroin and PCP is making a comeback. I have been told that Doctor's are not writing RX's for Oxy like they were. So addicts are going for Heroin. I had a 20 something year old first time user. Clean cut wearing girl jeans. Laid out in his nice ride behind a bar. Damm near dead. Narcan did the trick.

Heroin's getting more common in T-Town as well - cheaper than Oxy.