Drug Deaths is Number One Killer in Many States

article by Khoi Nguyen

Quiz any random person on what they think is the leading cause of injury-related deaths in the United States and most would probably respond with traffic collisions.  This answer would be correct for most states, however, there is a growing killer that is not as random or accidental and has overtaken it in an increasing number of states.  According to recent data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), 16 states now see more deaths that are drug-related than driving-related.  It is continuing to happen in one state after the other.

In 2006, the data shows that there were about 45,000 total deaths nationwide caused by traffic accidents.  Compare that to approximately 39,000 deaths that were drug-induced.  These deaths are both from overdoses (90%) and from deaths due to long-term organ damage.  Illegal drugs such as heroin and cocaine continue to be significant killers, but the key finding has to do with prescription opiates or pain medication drugs such as Vicodin, OxyContin, methadone, morphine, and codeine. 

Consider these troublesome facts about prescription drugs:
•    From 1999 to 2006, there was more than a tripling of pain medication-induced deaths.
•    In 2006 alone, pain killers caused approximately 40% of the total number of poisoning deaths.
•    Greatest increase in deaths seen in the drug methadone—a sevenfold increase in deaths between 1999 and 2006
•    Abuse of these drugs within the 35 to 54 year old age group is a major growing problem.  It now represents the leading cause of death overall for that segment in the US.
•    Overdose of these drugs is the fastest increasing segment of overall deaths that are caused by poisonings.

According to the report, at least half of those who died obtained these drug prescriptions legally.  The report indicates that many of the deaths were caused through mixing of a combination of the opiates (legal or illegal). 

How has it come to this?  The problem could stem from the dramatic change in the ways that doctors prescribed opiates.  In the 1990s, they had thought chronic pain was undertreated and started to ramp up prescriptions of pain medications.  Some also feel that the influence by drug companies could have played a big role.  Regardless of the cause, it started an upward trajectory culminating with a country in which one out of every five adults and one in 10 adolescents receive opiate prescriptions each year.  The data supports a correlation between the increases in deaths from opiate overdoses with the increase in prescriptions of the drugs.

Prescription pain killers now ranks second only to marijuana as the US’s most abused drug problem.  They are highly addictive and those who develop a “habit” with the drug spend their entire time either using it or trying to obtain it.   If you or some you love is addicted to them, it is vital to receive help and not become part of this statistics in reports such as this.