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U.S. - 'The Numbers Are So Staggering.' Overdose Deaths Set a Record Last Year.

S.J.B.

S.J.B.

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'The Numbers Are So Staggering.' Overdose Deaths Set a Record Last Year.
Josh Katz and Margot Sanger-Katz
The New York Times
November 29th, 2018

A class of synthetic drugs has replaced heroin in many major American drug markets, ushering in a more deadly phase of the opioid epidemic.

New numbers Thursday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that drug overdoses killed more than 70,000 Americans in 2017, a record. Overdose deaths are higher than deaths from H.I.V., car crashes or gun violence at their peaks. The data also show that the increased deaths correspond strongly with the use of synthetic opioids known as fentanyls.

Since 2013, the number of overdose deaths associated with fentanyls and similar drugs has grown to more than 28,000, from 3,000. Deaths involving fentanyls increased more than 45 percent in 2017 alone.

...

Recent federal public policy responses to the opioid epidemic have focused on opioid prescriptions. But several public health researchers say that the rise of fentanyls requires different tools. Opioid prescriptions have been falling, even as the death rates from overdoses are rising.

"Fentanyl deaths are up, a 45 percent increase; that is not a success," said Dr. Dan Ciccarone, a professor of family and community medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. "We have a heroin and synthetic opioid epidemic that is out of control and needs to be addressed."
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Read the full story here.
 
they numbers will increase further. at a certain point heroin will become as popular as cannabis was when it was illegal. heroin is the new cannabis.
 
^ i mean i don't hope that more and more people die....but i don't really know what its going to take for society to get it through their skulls that the drug war will never be won. when the deaths hit 1 million per year? 5 million per year? Sadly i think it will get to that point and the laws will still not change.
 
Im not sure legalization is possible. I want to see decriminalization. Expanded access to affordable MAT treatment. More drugs available on MAT besides Suboxone and methadone. The ability for every doctor to prescribe every kind of MAT. A basic rethink of the entire response to drugs and addiction.

We have made decent progress since I started following the issue in 2005 so I'm hopeful. My fear is the momentum dies when the opiod "epidemic" burns out. The epidemic changes drugs every 5-10 years. It was meth before opiates.
 
Cj...in worried the opioid epidemic won't burn out because its unique from all the other drug epidemics in that it has more deaths associated with it (besides alcohol and tobacco which have more deathsL
 
I think it's already waning. I follow message boards closely. Not many posts from first time users anymore asking what dose of lortab to get high. Most of the people posting are older and already addicted. The using base will shrink as they either die clean up or go to prison.

The epidemic always starts with the kids. Look at what the 16-18 year olds are into and you will see the future.
 
cj said:
I think it's already waning. I follow message boards closely. Not many posts from first time users anymore asking what dose of lortab to get high. Most of the people posting are older and already addicted. The using base will shrink as they either die clean up or go to prison.

The epidemic always starts with the kids. Look at what the 16-18 year olds are into and you will see the future.
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you make a convincing point. with the pills gone and the dangerous rep of fent-dope, are we really creating lots of "new' users right now, or is the increasing numbers of overdose by the year being fueld mainly by existing users (or the data is false, also very likely)

what is heroin use like among that age group? what drugs are that age group currently doing a lot of (besides weed)?
 
cj said:
The epidemic always starts with the kids. Look at what the 16-18 year olds are into and you will see the future.
Click to expand...
the kids are pressing pills with fent and its.a.big jokke to them. i work with them daily. they know what it is but could care less
 
LucidSDreamr said:
they numbers will increase further. at a certain point heroin will become as popular as cannabis was when it was illegal. heroin is the new cannabis.
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That is awful. Awful as what it does to people (overtakes their life, heroin being an illicit substance is not helping as safety measures simply cannot be enforced properly) and it is killer.

Cannabis should never be seen as heroin.
 
PtahTek said:
the kids are pressing pills with fent and its.a.big jokke to them. i work with them daily. they know what it is but could care less
Click to expand...

That's interesting. I guess we will see what happens. I don't really have any science to back up my point of view it's just a feeling and my own observation. I don't know what the kids are doing too old.
 
cj said:
I don't know what the kids are doing too old.
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Early 50s here but this is the new work-force... can't imagine 10 years from now.
Cooking at restaurants is not my "thing" but it's a challenge sometimes, it comes easy and I get out the house.
Waiting to get a call back from key west within the next six months (real work...lol) which may be a more permanent arrangement.
Wish I could say that these kids will get a grip before we are missing a whole gen from play-fent-games, but do not see this happening.
Whattayado?
 
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