07-08-2015, 08:38 AM
CHICAGO – Heroin overdose deaths in the United States nearly quadrupled between
2002 and 2013, fueled by lower costs as
well as increased abuse of prescription
opiate painkillers, U.S. health officials said
on Tuesday.
Such medicines, which include Vicodin,
OxyContin and Percocet, increase
individuals' susceptibility to heroin addiction,
Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Reuters.
"Everything we see points to more accessible, less-expensive heroin all over the country," Frieden said of the joint report by the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration which analyzed national survey data on drug use from 2002 to 2013.
The report found that nearly all people (96
percent) who use heroin also use multiple
other substances, and that the strongest
risk factor for heroin abuse is prescription
opiate abuse.
According to the report, individuals who
abuse prescription opiates have a 40 times
greater risk of abusing heroin. The increased use has fueled sharp increases in overdose deaths.
As many as 8,200 people died from heroin
overdoses in 2013 alone, according to the
report. Frieden said reversing the trend will require an "all-society response" to improve opioid prescribing practices and expand access to effective treatment, increasing the use of drugs such as naloxone to reverse drug overdoses and working with law enforcement partners such as the Drug Enforcement Administration to disrupt the supply of heroin.
"There are lots of people who have not yet
gotten an opiate and we need to protect
them from the risk of getting addicted,"
Frieden said.
He said doctors are prescribing "way too
much of these medications, and the result of
it is large numbers of people who are addicted."
Story Here
*opinion
Where are all these Dr's prescribing all these opiates? I think the "non" precribing of much needed pain killers is driving some good people to do the unthinkable .... In the name of "stopping adiction" they are creating a monster they will not be able to control...
2002 and 2013, fueled by lower costs as
well as increased abuse of prescription
opiate painkillers, U.S. health officials said
on Tuesday.
Such medicines, which include Vicodin,
OxyContin and Percocet, increase
individuals' susceptibility to heroin addiction,
Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Reuters.
"Everything we see points to more accessible, less-expensive heroin all over the country," Frieden said of the joint report by the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration which analyzed national survey data on drug use from 2002 to 2013.
The report found that nearly all people (96
percent) who use heroin also use multiple
other substances, and that the strongest
risk factor for heroin abuse is prescription
opiate abuse.
According to the report, individuals who
abuse prescription opiates have a 40 times
greater risk of abusing heroin. The increased use has fueled sharp increases in overdose deaths.
As many as 8,200 people died from heroin
overdoses in 2013 alone, according to the
report. Frieden said reversing the trend will require an "all-society response" to improve opioid prescribing practices and expand access to effective treatment, increasing the use of drugs such as naloxone to reverse drug overdoses and working with law enforcement partners such as the Drug Enforcement Administration to disrupt the supply of heroin.
"There are lots of people who have not yet
gotten an opiate and we need to protect
them from the risk of getting addicted,"
Frieden said.
He said doctors are prescribing "way too
much of these medications, and the result of
it is large numbers of people who are addicted."
Story Here
*opinion
Where are all these Dr's prescribing all these opiates? I think the "non" precribing of much needed pain killers is driving some good people to do the unthinkable .... In the name of "stopping adiction" they are creating a monster they will not be able to control...