The number of Americans who died of drug overdoses in record numbers was reported on Wednesday by federal researchers.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, more than 100,000 Americans died of overdoses in the year that ended in April, up from 78,000 deaths in the previous year. The number of overdose deaths in the United States has exceeded 100,000 for the first time, more than the toll of car crashes and gun deaths combined. Since 2015, overdose deaths have doubled.
Administration officials said on Wednesday that they will encourage states to pass laws that will make it more widely available and promote its use by Americans, in order to expand access to the medication, which can reverse an overdose.
The director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy believes that no one should die of an overdose simply because they don't have access to the drug. Access to the drug is often dependent on where you live.
The overdose death rate may have slowed, but the grim tally signals a public health crisis that was obscured by the Covid epidemic.
The director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse said that the numbers were unprecedented. She said that most of the deaths occurred in the prime of life for people aged 25 to 55.
There are a lot of downstream consequences if they leave behind friends, family and children. This is a big challenge to our society.
Fentanyl, a fast-acting drug that is 100 times as powerful as morphine, was the cause of the rise in deaths. Fentanyl is added to other drugs to make them more potent.
During the year, overdose deaths related to use of drugs like methamphetamine, cocaine, and natural and semi-synthetic opioids, such as prescription pain medication, increased.
The image is.
Paramedics in Brooklyn, Md., responded to a patient in cardiac arrest after an overdose in May 2020.
Some drug users may not have wanted to take it. The risk of overdose is very high, and that is what is being sold.
Many people are dying without knowing what they are consuming.
People who are struggling with addiction are more likely to return to it. The rise in mental health disorders like anxiety and depression helped create the crisis.
The treatment for substance abuse disorders was postponed as health care providers nationwide struggled to tend to huge numbers of coronaviruses.
Dr. Joseph Lee, president and chief executive of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, said that community and social support that was lost during the Pandemic contributed to the death toll. A lot of people who seem to be more sick are being seen by Dr. Lee.
The majority of deaths were among men between the ages of 25 and 54. While white Americans have been most affected by the crisis, a growing number of Black Americans have also been affected.
The largest year-over-year increases were in California, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, West Virginia and Kentucky. The toll in Vermont increased by 85 percent during the reporting period.
In Washington State, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota, Alaska, Nebraska, Virginia and the Carolinas there were increases of 40 percent or more. In New Hampshire, New Jersey and South Dakota there were no deaths.
I would have told you that deaths are increasing. Dr. Andrew Kolodny, medical director of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative, said that he didn't think it would get to this.
The image is.
A police officer and a member of the Turning Point recovery center checked in on people struggling with addiction last year.
Most of the people who died were already suffering from addiction, or were in recovery and relapsed, and that's an ever-present risk during times of stress and isolation.
Many people with an addiction to synthetic opioids became addicted after being given prescription drugs. He said that teenagers are often given the drugs when their wisdom teeth come out.
Substance use disorders and people struggling with addiction were included in the bill that was passed last spring.
Federal funds can be used to buy rapid test strips that can detect whether drugs have been spiked with the drugfentanil.
Critics say the federal response has been inadequate. Universal access to treatment and treatment centers in every county that offer same-day access have been called for by them.
Buprenorphine, a first-line treatment for opiate use disorder, requires federal permission to be prescribed, which limits the number of providers.
If you want to see deaths come down, you have to make it easier for people who are addicted to drugs to get treatment.
It has to be easier to get treatment than to buy drugs.
