OVERDOSES

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Have We Simply Become Numb to All the Drug-Related Deaths?

There’s a problem with the readily-available information on statistics related to America’s drug abuse and drug overdose situation. And this problem could be skewing the way many of us perceive this situation and reducing our sense of urgency in seeking...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

New Data Suggests Mass Incarceration Contributed to the Opioid Crisis

The American incarceration system earns a fair amount of criticism amongst Americans and foreigners alike. And there’s some good reasons for that. For one thing, the U.S. incarcerates its citizens at a rate exceeding all other countries in the world.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Heroin Overdoses on the Way Down in Some Areas, Band-Aid for the Real Problem

Heroin addiction. The term itself brings out feelings of discomfort, sadness, and heartache. It seems like everywhere we turn there is another story of an individual who died from a heroin overdose—a life lost, a family tormented.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Slow Progress in Fighting The Addiction Epidemic

After working with hundreds of people who struggled with addiction over the last eight years, I’ve often wondered if our country’s drug problem has an end in sight. I’ve seen addiction in my fellow man in one form or another all my life.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Opioid Prescribing to Young People Still Ongoing

For years, finding data on young adult and adolescent opioid prescribing was more akin to a deep sea treasure hunt than a cursory scan of the internet. There just wasn’t a lot of information out there. But now that’s changing. People are becoming more...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Overdose Rates among American Youth Back on the Rise

Hearing about the effects of our country’s drug addiction epidemic is difficult. It's never a pleasant subject to talk about. But, when we hear about drug addiction or alcoholism occurring in young people, that particular crisis carries with it an extra...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Millennials to Inherit More Than Debt, They Face Drug Addiction In Record Numbers

It doesn’t take a lot of effort to hear something mentioned that is negative or discouraging about the day-to-day lives of millennials. They’re up to their ears in student debt. They’re having a harder time finding jobs which can support a comfortable...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

We Just Celebrated National Prescription Drug Take Back Day—What’s Next?

April 27th was “Prescription Drug Take Back Day,” a day which is celebrated in both April and October. The event was initially created and sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Administration. And why do we need two days per year where we all get together...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Is Addiction Really a Form of Suicide?

I was recently on a short trip and the motel I stayed at gave patrons a complimentary copy of USA TODAY. I generally don’t like to read newspapers because all they put in the papers is bad news and I don’t think a lot of it is even true, let alone...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

What We Can Learn from the Overdose Capital of the U.S.

I saw a headline yesterday that read “City with the Most Per Capita Overdose Deaths in the Nation Begins to Recover.” It caught my eye.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

How Could Hospitals Direct OD Patients to Treatment Centers?

Most of the time, when someone overdoses on drugs, they are taken to a hospital which treats the overdose. Of course, this is what happens when the addict is around someone who can call 911. But what happens when the patient recovers from the overdose?

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Overdose Deaths Decline: Does This Mean We Are Successfully Fighting This Problem?

Starting in late 2017, the number of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have finally begun to decline after decades of increases. But the reasons why might indicate that we are not actually getting to the root of this problem but only coping better with...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

The Danger of Substance Abuse at the Work Place and America’s Top Industries for Addiction

We’ve likely all heard more than once the story of the growing prevalence of drug and alcohol addiction in America. This is a problem that started becoming more severe around the turn of the century and which has doubled, tripled and even quadrupled...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Do Americans Need to Carry Overdose Prevention Drugs?

In August of 2018, the National Institute on Drug Abuse published the CDC’s statistics for American drug overdose deaths for 2017. According to the research, more than seventy-two thousand people died from drug overdoses in 2017 alone, a new highest-ever...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

How Did More than Seventy-Two Thousand Die from Overdoses in 2017? New Numbers and Their Explanation

Did you know that seventy-two thousand Americans died from drug overdoses in 2017? This is a shocking statistic.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Top Priorities for Reducing the American Addiction Epidemic

Drug and alcohol addiction is said by some to be the bane of our health in 21st-century America. And that’s not far off the mark either.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Why Policy Changes Aren’t Enough to Curb Overdose Epidemic

The United States is trapped in the fiery chaos of an opioid epidemic. This has been an ongoing problem for almost twenty years, a gripping quandary of efforts to resolve pain phenomena amongst Americans and yet still avoid addiction difficulties.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

In California, A Coroner’s Letter Changes How Doctors Prescribe Opioids

It seems like a small thing, just letters from a county coroner to 388 California medical doctors, telling them that one of their patients died from a prescription drug overdose. But this simple step subsequently reduced the number of opioid prescriptions...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

A Rising Tide: What We Can Do to Bring Drug Overdose Deaths Down

We need to find a way to reduce the crippling drug problem that is overwhelming our country. Since the turn of the century, the number of Americans addicted to drugs and alcohol has more than tripled, more than half a million have lost their lives from...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

One in Ten Americans Admit to Drug Use: The Epidemic in Numbers

According to a U.S. Health Report by the National Institutes of Health, about one in ten Americans of the age of twelve or older are now addicted to drugs or alcohol. This is addiction at never before seen levels, a crippling trend of substance abuse unlike...