Tag: Drug Overdoses

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Overdoses are more deadly than guns, and we’re flying blind | Editorial

opioid and heroin epidemic

Posted on June 10, 2017 at 6:27 AM

BY STAR-LEDGER EDITORIAL BOARD

eletters@starledger.com

More Americans died of drug overdoses last year alone than in the entire Vietnam war, according to Vox and the New York Times. More than ever died of guns or car crashes in a single year, even at the peak of those epidemics.

That’s according to a chilling Times investigation based on preliminary data collected from 2016. Overdose deaths rose 19 percent over the 52,404 recorded in 2015, to somewhere between 59,000 to 65,000.

The final numbers aren’t out yet, since drug deaths take a long time to certify. You see why timely data is crucial. So far, all evidence points to 2017 being even worse, but by the time the boxes are checked and the final reports are filed, thousands more will be dead.

https://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2017/06/overdoses_are_more_deadly_than_guns_and_were_flyin.html#incart_river_home

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Drug Overdoses Killed More Americans Than Car Crashes or Guns

prescription-drugs

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

By Susan Jones | November 5, 2015 | 7:52 AM EST
More than half of the 46,471 drug-related deaths in 2013 were caused by prescription painkillers and heroin, the DEA says.

(CNSNews.com) – “Drug overdose deaths are the leading cause of injury death in the United States, ahead of motor vehicle deaths and firearms (deaths),” the Drug Enforcement Agency announced on Wednesday.

In 2013, the most recent year for which data is available, 46,471 people in the United States died from drug overdoses, and more than half of those deaths were caused by prescription painkillers and heroin.

That compares with the 35,369 who died in motor vehicle crashes and 33,636 who died from firearms, as tallied by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Sadly this report confirms what we’ve known for some time: drug abuse is ending too many lives while destroying families and communities,” Acting DEA Administrator Chuck Rosenberg said as he released the 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment.

“We must stop drug abuse before it begins by teaching young people at an even earlier age about its many dangers and horrors.”

https://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/dea-drug-overdoses-kill-more-americans-car-crashes-or-firearms?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=marketing&utm_campaign=n-drug-overdoeses