Drug Overdose – The Biggest Killer

[longknife]

Who knew. Something I've never thought about. We read about road deaths and shootings all the time. But ODs? An interesting article @ 46,471: Drug Overdoses Killed More Americans Than Car Crashes or Guns



46,471: Drug Overdoses Killed More Americans Than Car Crashes or Guns



And more than half of those were caused by prescription painkillers or heroin.

 

[September]

Not a single one caused by Marijuana​

 

[PaintMyHouse]

Not a single one caused by Marijuana​

That causes pizza overdoses...

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - if yer gonna do heroin, at least sign an organ donation card...

Drug Overdose Deaths Drive Increase in Number of Organ Donations: One Family’s Story of Hope From Despair
Sep 29, 2016, Laurie Clemens described her son, Brandon Morris, as an outgoing, all-American boy who loved to play football and go fishing. "He was always there for me," Clemens said, "a typical mama’s boy."

On a spring day in 2015, Morris died after a heroin overdose caused him to stop breathing. Clemens said she was crushed to find her son brain dead in a hospital bed. “I never expected Brandon would stick a needle in his arm,” Clemens said. "We don’t want this to happen to anyone else’s family. The heartache is just unbearable.” At the hospital, Clemens was surprised to find out her son could be considered for organ donation, even though he was an intravenous drug user and died from an overdose. Doctors were able to match Morris' liver to a 57-year-old grandfather named George Henderson.

Percent Rise in Donors​

Within a year of Morris' death, Clemens met the man saved by her son's donated organ. After losing her son, Clemens said she has found a bit of hope in her friendship with Henderson, who was previously a stranger but has since become “family.” In recent years, so many people have died as a result of the nation’s opioid epidemic that it has caused the number of organ donations from fatal overdose victims to skyrocket -- an unexpected consequence that highlights the nation’s agonizing opioid crisis. In 1994, only 29 donors in the U.S. had died of drug overdoses. Last year, that number climbed to 848, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the nonprofit organization that manages the nation’s organ transplant system.

Organ Donors Dying Via Drug Overdose​

The rise in numbers is not due solely to the increase in opioid overdoses. Medical advances have also allowed more organs from drug intoxicated donors -- which were often unusable for transplantation years ago -- to save the lives of some people facing long waiting lists. In the midst of an epidemic that remains stigmatized as a moral, or even criminal issue, rather than as a health crisis, some families have found hope after their losses through organ donations.

’A Sad Reality’

Dr. David Klassen, the chief medical officer for UNOS, said he has witnessed the opioid epidemic unfold through the mounting number of deceased organ donors who passed away as a result of drug overdoses. Around five years ago, Klassen said that the number of organ donors had stagnated, and UNOS studies predicted that the number of organ donors would remain “relatively flat” going forward. “Somewhat unexpectedly, it has increased very substantially, starting around 2013, 2014, and especially last year, 2015,” Klassen said, “Some of the biggest increases in donations has been from people who have died of drug overdoses.”

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[EvilCat Breath]

Maybe this is why the government wants an increase in drug use.

 

[waltky]

It's an epidemic...

Grim Tally Soars: More Than 50,000 Overdose Deaths in US
December 08, 2016 — More than 50,000 Americans died from drug overdoses last year, the most ever.

The disastrous tally has been pushed to new heights by soaring abuse of heroin and prescription painkillers, a class of drugs known as opioids. Heroin deaths rose 23 percent in one year, to 12,989, slightly higher than the number of gun homicides, according to government data released Thursday.

Deaths from synthetic opioids, including illicit fentanyl, rose 73 percent to 9,580. And prescription painkillers took the highest toll, but posted the smallest increase. Abuse of drugs like Oxycontin and Vicodin killed 17,536, an increase of 4 percent. “I don't think we've ever seen anything like this. Certainly not in modern times,” said Robert Anderson, who oversees death statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Deaths from synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, rose 73 percent. Prescription painkillers took the highest toll with deaths from Oxycontin and Vicodin increasing just 4 percent, according to government data.​

Agency does annual death tally

The new numbers were part of the agency's annual tally of deaths and death rates in 2015. Overall, overdose deaths rose 11 percent last year, to 52,404. By comparison, the number of people who died in car crashes was 37,757, an increase of 12 percent. Gun deaths, including homicides and suicides, totaled 36,252, up 7 percent.

As part of its annual report the CDC also found that rates for 8 of the 10 leading causes of death rose last year, causing the nation's life expectancy to go down for the first time in more than 20 years. Drug overdoses were a significant factor, but an unexpected increase in the death rate from heart disease, the nation's No. 1 killer, was another major reason.

Grim Tally Soars: More Than 50,000 Overdose Deaths in US

 

[RoshawnMarkwees]

Not a single one caused by Marijuana​

Yeah, pot just causes depression which makes you want to OD.

 

[DigitalDrifter]

Fucking addicts, what a scourge.

 

[Claudette]

Who knew. Something I've never thought about. We read about road deaths and shootings all the time. But ODs? An interesting article @ 46,471: Drug Overdoses Killed More Americans Than Car Crashes or Guns



46,471: Drug Overdoses Killed More Americans Than Car Crashes or Guns



And more than half of those were caused by prescription painkillers or heroin.

I for one can drag up any sympathy for drug users.

No one put a gun to their head to use drugs and with all the anti drug literature out there anyone with half a brain knows you can get hooked on drugs.

Sympathy is in the dictionary between shit and syphilis.

 

[waltky]

Overdoses the leading cause of death for under 50 demographic...

Almost 60,000 Drug Overdose Deaths in 2016; ‘Largest Annual Increase in American History’
June 7, 2017 | “For Americans under the age of 50, drug overdoses now are the leading cause of death,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told employees of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday. “On an average day, 90 Americans will die from an opioid-related overdose. About four people will overdose and die while we sit here this morning,” Rosenstein said.

Outlining the “horrifying surge in drug overdoses,” Rosenstein noted that in 2015, more than 52,000 Americans lost their lives to drug overdoses, 33,000 of them from heroin, fentanyl and other opioids. “The preliminary numbers for 2016 show an increase to almost 60,000 deaths. That will be the largest annual increase in American history,” Rosenstein said.

And the opioid crisis is posing new dangers to law enforcement and other first responders, he warned: Fentanyl is 30 to 50 times more deadly than heroin. Just 2 milligrams – the equivalent of a few grains of table salt – an amount that can fit on the tip of your finger – can be lethal. Fentanyl exposure can injure or kill innocent law enforcement officers and other first responders. Inhaling just a few airborne particles could be fatal. Our police officers and first responders face this danger every day.

This is not a hypothetical problem. Law enforcement officers have already suffered exposures to fentanyl in New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut…Just a few weeks ago, a police officer in East Liverpool, Ohio nearly died from exposure to an extremely potent opioid, most likely a fentanyl-related compound. The officer had pulled over a car and noticed an unidentified white powder in the vehicle. The officer took precautions by putting on gloves and a mask for personal protection. When the officer returned to the police station, another officer pointed out that he had powder on his shirt. Instinctively, he brushed off the powder while not wearing gloves. About an hour later, he collapsed. That officer had to be treated with four doses of naloxone. Luckily, he survived and is recovering.

Three weeks ago, a sheriff’s deputy in my home state of Maryland responded to an overdose scene. He was exposed to opioids and needed a dose of Narcan to reverse the effects. The spread of fentanyl means that any encounter a law enforcement officer has with an unidentified white powder could be fatal.

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