Drug overdose death rate rises since pandemic
This is no surprise whatsoever:
America has seen a spike in overdose deaths since the pandemic, when drug overdose deaths rose more than 14% from 2020 to 2021.
The biggest increase, perhaps surprisingly, came from adults aged 65 and over, but rates for adults 35-44 remain highest. As synthetic opioids like fentanyl continue to displace heroin, overdose deaths have increased.
Seems to me that the over-65 crowd has been especially hard-hit by the pandemic, because they’re even more vulnerable to isolation and loneliness, which has been exacerbated by lockdowns and social distancing. But if you look at Figure 2 from the CDC report, actual rates for the over-65 group remain quite low – in fact, lowest of all the groups listed (which start at age 15-24).
More:
The data, released by the CDC, also show the rate of overdose deaths increased slightly faster for women than for men, though the rate for men remains more than twice as high as for women.
And it’s not just opioids, it’s also cocaine and “psychostimulants with abuse potential.” Amphetamines?
And that 14% rise is an age-adjusted rate rise. The increase are pretty staggering, and remember these are rates and not just connected with a rise in population:
Among the total population, the age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths increased from 6.8 in 2001 to 11.5 in 2006, was stable from 2006 through 2013, then increased from 13.8 in 2013 to 32.4 in 2021; from 2020 through 2021, the rate increased 14%, from 28.3 to 32.4.
Here’s a chart from the CDC. You can see that the slope of the line sharply increases since 2019:
Going to the CDC link, here’s a chart by race:
I find it interesting that the charts there do not include racial breakdowns by age and sex, although they could because the CDC has the data. My guess is that the rate for young-to-middle-aged white men has shot up more than for any other group, but I don’t know.
Whenever the OTC version of the Narcan spray is available, I’ll get a few bottles to carry. It won’t be for me, but available for me to use in case I see someone in trouble. I also have an epi-pen even though it’s been a while since I had a severe allergic reaction. At least the Drug plan I switched to will let me have a dose of the generic epi at a decent price, about $90, vs the old plan that had the price greater than $400
It’s sad that I have to think that these items are necessary for a basic first aid kit.
I suspect that far more of the liberal persuasion are overdosing than of the conservative persuasion.
Fentanyl, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is up to 100 times more potent than morphine and many times that of heroin.
Drugs users generally don’t know when their heroin is laced with fentanyl, so when they inject their usual quantity of heroin, they can inadvertently take a deadly dose of the substance. In addition, while dealers try to include fentanyl to improve potency, their measuring equipment usually isn’t fine-tuned enough to ensure they stay below the levels that could cause users to overdose. Plus, the fentanyl sold on the street is almost always made in a clandestine lab; it is less pure than the pharmaceutical version and thus its effect on the body can be more unpredictable.
Heroin and fentanyl look identical, and with drugs purchased on the street, “you don’t know what you’re taking,” Tim Pifer, the director of the New Hampshire State Police Forensic Laboratory, told STAT in an interview. “You’re injecting yourself with a loaded gun.”
https://www.statnews.com/2016/09/29/why-fentanyl-is-deadlier-than-heroin/
huxley:
In addition, people are often unaware that many drugs other than heroin are laced with fentanyl. It makes those drugs more powerful and more addictive, and it’s cheap. See this.
neo:
Furthermore, the new meth is made from a different process and more potent. Some authorities claim this meth causes worse brain damage and more quickly.
So, the current drug problem isn’t purely reducible to Americans being stupid and self-destructive in larger numbers (though that surely seems true as well).
America is in bad shape these days and we’ve gotten here more quickly that I would have thought possible.
I wonder how much these new drugs, social media and the whole Covid nightmare sped up our decline.
huxley:
I think mostly COVID and social media. The new drugs wouldn’t have as big a market if not for that.
Here’s something rather, um, “interesting”:
1.
“LA County Experiences 1,200% Increase In Fentanyl Overdose Deaths Over 5-Year Period”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/la-county-experiences-1280-increase-fentanyl-overdose-deaths-over-5-year-period
2.
“CDC: Overdose deaths up 14% nationally since the pandemic”—
https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/cdc-overdose-deaths-14-nationally-pennsylvania-3-overall
CLEARLY, President Fentanyl’s policies are working with phenomenal—proven—success. Open borders is win-win for this administration (and of course, the American People…at least those who believe fervently in UNITY!!).
“He” certainly should give “himself” a pat on the back!
But hold on! Just a sec there!!
3.
President Fentanyl’s coup-de-grace!
“FDA fast-tracks review of over-the-counter opioid overdose antidote”—
https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/fda-fast-tracks-review-over-counter-opioid-overdose-antidote
Hmmm. Haven’t we seen “something” like this before? (But where? Where might that have been?)
Something hugely profitable?—well, profitable for some…
Let’s see now: Flooding the zone with disease, fear, panic, despair, hopelessness…and then—our SAVIORS!—developing “protection” for “the problem”…but at a cost. At a cost…
Creating a crisis…and milking it for all its worth—politically AND financially!
Hmmm. One may well be left wondering the logistics of it all: Is President Fentanyl getting his cut…” (Hint: don’t worry!)
Hey, maybe the president should change his name to President Pfizer…!
File under: Patterns within patterns within patterns… (just ask the FBI)…
+ Bonus
“China’s Drug Attack on the US”—
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18988/china-fentanyl-attack
“The biggest increase,” should be the biggest % increase, since the 9.6 >> 12.0 is a 2.4 increase, and is smaller than all other increases except the youngest, which went from 16.7 >> 17.2. (A JTN writer’s error, not Neo).
It should be more standard to include the absolute changes as well as the percentage changes.
Few climate alarmists know that the 100% increase in CO2 is still far below 1% of the atmosphere – nor do they know that some 95% of “greenhouse gases” is water vapor (clouds!).
Drug deaths are sad, and a clear symptom of sub-optimal society. Sub-optimal especially for those without college. The laws and norms should be attempting to create an optimal society for the slightly lower than median wage earners, often the slightly lower than median IQ folk. Not necessarily optimal for the rich.
I recently had a conversation with a young man who is three years clean and very involved with helping recovering addicts. I asked him if he thought the increases were due to societal breakdown, cultural changes, lack of meaning in young people’s lives…
His reply was that it’s almost exclusively technology induced. The new drugs are engineered to levels never seen before. Like others have written, he said pushers are putting fentanyl into everything as a low cost, potent ingredient. He said even the changes in marijuana in the past decade are astounding.
His experience is that people are not being drawn more to lives of addiction but the chemistry has made addiction more likely for folks who use drugs and potency has made accidents unfortunately much more common.
Indeed, “Biden” can be proud of “his” many successes…
(But buckle up! THIS is only the beginning….)
“‘9-1-1’ and ‘The Rookie’ actor Tyler Sanders’ cause of death revealed”—
https://nypost.com/2022/12/29/9-1-1-and-the-rookie-actor-tyler-sanders-cause-of-death-revealed/
File under: Let “my” people OD.
Regarding the deaths per 100k chart (second from bottom), it’s interesting to note that there was a fairly steady increase from 2001 to 2015, then a more rapid increase from 2015 – 2017, then a decrease from 2017 to 2018. Makes me wonder what was going on from 2015 – 2017, then what happened from 2017 to 2018 to bring deaths back down a bit. I know that the economy was quite good during the 2017 – 2018 period, but there’s certainly other factors at play. Then perhaps the current wave of fentanyl begun sometime in 2018ish?
Interestingly I’ve heard that there are actually testing kits available for drug users to test if their cocaine or herion or whatever has any fentanyl in it. I don’t know if these testing kits are strictly black market items or not though.
Used to be, you could say….that’s Darwin. People are going to kill themselves with drugs. The victim would be labeled or known as an habitual drug user.
It could be an artifact of reporting but the cases I hear about seem to include new users, or even non-users who accidentally get a grain of fentanyl.
Are there new social attitudes toward drugs? If cannabis is legal, can it be that bad? And, by extension, the next step is…less bad than it used to be.
All of which said, how much of this is a matter of the arrival of fentanyl, as opposed to other factors which, at least theoretically, could remain unchanged but with the murderous new substance hitting the unwary….