Opioid Epidemic 'Getting Worse Instead of Better,' Public Health Officials Warn

[hand2handking]

Opioid epidemic 'getting worse instead of better,' public health officials warn
Michael Collins, USA TODAYPublished 2:52 p.m. ET Oct. 5, 2017 | Updated 3:27 p.m. ET Oct. 5, 2017

www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/05/opioid-epidemic-getting-worse-instead-better-public-health-officials-warn/732192001/

WASHINGTON — A top public health official warned Thursday the nation’s opioid epidemic is showing no signs of abating.

“It is one of the few public health problems that is getting worse instead of better,” said Dr. Debra Houry, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

Houry and public health officials testifying at a Senate hearing described an addiction crisis that has spiraled so out of control that it is far beyond the scope of any particular agency to address.

“We need all hands on deck,” said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health.

Officials from four federal health agencies delivered their dire assessment of the opioid epidemic during the first in a series of hearings before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

“The opioid crisis is tearing our communities apart, tearing families apart, and posing an enormous challenge to health providers and law enforcement officials,” said the committee’s chairman, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.

More than 11 million Americans misused prescription opioids in 2016, nearly 1 million used heroin, and 2.1 million had an opioid use disorder due to prescription opioids or heroin, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

More alarming, officials said, is the continued increase in overdose deaths, especially those involving illicitly made fentanyl and other highly potent synthetic opioids.

More than 300,000 Americans have died of an opioid overdose since 2000, officials said. Preliminary data shows at least 64,000 drug overdose deaths in 2016, the highest number ever recorded in the United States in a single year.

thoughts?

 

[iwilwin]

My cousin overdosed last year in sep his oldest boy found him with the needle in his arm to make things worse his son is now on herion and he’s only 15

 

[sooperhooper]

This country revels in pleasure, entertainment and self-gratification. of course drug use will run rampant. it's going to get even worse too.

 

[numbah1grimey]

That dog food here to stay

 

[Teknoman]

Follow the money......

 

[numbah1grimey]

Plus, people who are predisposed to drugs usually follow suit. I know tons of people who’s parents did drugs, and they grew up susceptible to drug use.

Plus, with the American government trying to dumb down and control everyone, drugs is their easiest route in doing so.

 

[stuntman mike]

i work in the substance abuse treatment field and i think it’s horrible how cannabis is still somewhat illegal and yet you can easily get a prescription for opiates or benzos.

 

[$tatus $ymbol]

Good luck white america

 

[ninjahood]

Good luck white america

that said....da gringos is getting devastated.

 

[ahat]

i work in the substance abuse treatment field and i think it’s horrible how cannabis is still somewhat illegal and yet you can easily get a prescription for opiates or benzos.

Still baffles my mind how green is illegal.

Dont smoke anymore but that ish never hurt anyone. Plus all the medicinal uses theyve found for it.


Took a thc pill once before... Maaan that **** whooped me

 

[whatscomplex]

I have someone close to me affected by this. I honestly don't know what to do even on a personal level, much less any fix for the widespread use. I know the person I am close to started because someone close to us was given emergency painkillers incase the drip stopped working. He got it from her emergency bag. I'm not educated enough on medicine to say how prescription opioids should be handled. If there is an equally safe alternative for painkillers, obviously that would be great.

I live in the DMV area where it's reported to be really bad in particular. Be careful with any opioid use. People start off taking prescriptions or "trying something" and end up getting their feet into quicksand. Heroin is arguably the most addictive drug physically and mentally from everything that I've read.

 

[Nereyda Vuelve Por Dios]

That pharm lobby is untouchable. I worked at at hiv clinic and docotors gave out a perc, Methadone, etc like candy.

Then they suddenly pulled back
Immensely and these addicts got rowdy as ****.

 

[BukHumYai]

This is all big pharm and the government’s fault. They’re the ones pushing it...I have a family friend that got diagnosed with breast cancer a few months ago. She went to her doctor to see if she can get anything to help with her nausea. The doc straight up told her that she can’t get marijuana even though it’s harmless. He then offered her synthetic marijuana....WTF is that? K2? He then told her he can prescribe Oxy instead. I’m no doctor but how the hell can an opiate like Oxy help with nausea?

This is ********. This makes me believe that doctors get some sort of kickback to prescribe opiates to patients

 

[Teknoman]

This is all big pharm and the government’s fault. They’re the ones pushing it...I have a family friend that got diagnosed with breast cancer a few months ago. She went to her doctor to see if she can get anything to help with her nausea. The doc straight up told her that she can’t get marijuana even though it’s harmless. He then offered her synthetic marijuana....WTF is that? K2? He then told her he can prescribe Oxy instead. I’m no doctor but how the hell can an opiate like Oxy help with nausea?

This is ********. This makes me believe that doctors get some sort of kickback to prescribe opiates to patients

They do

 

[wayniac211]

Bout to pop some norco. Gout trippin. Do the drugs and don’t let em do u

 

[gwap]

there was no sympathy for our communities during the crack epidemic...

hard for me to emphasize now...

 

[Deleted member 37467]

Good luck white america

Opioid deaths are way up across the board, more like good luck to everyone.

This isn't just a white issue like the media wants you to believe.

Also, I know for a fact that a lot of OD deaths are unreported, so, this issue is way worse than the numbers indicate.

 

[putting in work]

there was no sympathy for our communities during the crack epidemic...

hard for me to emphasize now...

QFT

I seen something on a news site where they are changing the laws now that helps users and dealers where they won't go to jail for a long periods

When it happened in our communities they threw the book at us.

 

[Deleted member 37467]

Double

 

[160jordansdeep]

once the pill supply runs out or "da Plug" or the goes dark its going up your nose and then once you don't get high no more its onto the "works"

best thing is to legalize pot

 

[Nike Jordan]

The video is from 2010, but you get the idea.

 

[sfc415]

Pull yourselves up by the bootstraps, just say no, but what about black on black crime, what about Chicago, etc.

 

[rustlenomics]

theyre still finding a way to blame brown people for this one,

white america always has to point a finger at everyone else and blame others for their misfortune, yet every other race is supposed to fix their own problems and get over it.

the pain pills were the first problem, white americans thought because they were pills and prescirbed by a doc that there was nothing to worry about.

then when formulas changed to prevent abuse plus the price hikes and doctors cutting people off, then naturally people switched to the cheaper most available option.

i saw this happen first hand, i lived in palm springs, ca rich white kids were snorting oxys, dilaudids opanas all types of pills they give dying people.

i was using too, slowly i saw people bringing this black tar substance and they were smoking it off foil, it was heroin.

these kids didnt see it as being straight out junkies yet because they were smoking it, but then some started to do it alot more frequent.

some started to experiment with needles because of money and then this whole community was destroyed.

lost alot of people, sons and daughters, rich kids poor kids, at this point the parents couldnt blame the "bad" kid that came around and was a bad influence.

most of these kids started by just going in their parents medicine cabinets, dudes i knew in high school that got mad girls were turning gay for pay.

girls that were gorgeous were looking busted selling themselves or trading sex for drugs, nobody was older than 24 during this time.

i saw alot of stuff, got involved in things i wouldve never been in but this drug was the only thing that mattered for those summers.

people were sticking up stores, robbing dealers, these were the kids of respectable families that were worth millions.

 

[jjs07]

My friend's mom served time for writing her own prescriptions. Addiction is something else, man.

 

[Jimmy Two Times]

theyre still finding a way to blame brown people for this one,

white america always has to point a finger at everyone else and blame others for their misfortune, yet every other race is supposed to fix their own problems and get over it.

the pain pills were the first problem, white americans thought because they were pills and prescirbed by a doc that there was nothing to worry about.

then when formulas changed to prevent abuse plus the price hikes and doctors cutting people off, then naturally people switched to the cheaper most available option.

i saw this happen first hand, i lived in palm springs, ca rich white kids were snorting oxys, dilaudids opanas all types of pills they give dying people.

Buddy cool it with that white america ****. Don't bunch a whole race together. You sound like a whining baby. You obviously got a chip on your shoulder.