Record high drug overdoses ‘ravaging’ United States, physicians say & More News Here

AMA cites want for remedies, naloxone, supportive insurance policies.

Drug overdoses are “ravaging” the United States and the issue is getting worse, in accordance with the American Medical Association (AMA).

There had been an estimated 107,622 drug overdose deaths throughout the nation in 2021, in accordance with provisional figures from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) within the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

That determine was a rise of just about 15% from the 93,655 deaths estimated in 2020. “The 2021 increase was half of what it was a year ago, when overdose deaths rose 20% from 2019 to 2020,” in accordance with a CDC announcement of May 11.

Physicians reply

In response, AMA demanded lawmakers assist insurance policies that assist evidence-based remedies that can assist sufferers.

“We know the overdose epidemic is ravaging this country, and the National Center for Health Statistics tally of about 107,000 deaths in the past year confirms the problem is getting worse,” AMA Board of Trustees Chairman Bobby Mukkamala, MD, stated in a press launch.

“Behind the numbers is thousands of grieving families. We need to help patients and their families with medically proven approaches to addiction,” stated Mukkamala, who is also chairman of AMA’s Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force. “The AMA again is asking state and federal policymakers to embrace steps that will save lives by ensuring evidence-based treatment and harm reduction to our patients.”

AMA recommends:

Decriminalizing fentanyl take a look at strips
Removing the prescription standing of naloxone and making it an over-the-counter drug
Holding insurers accountable for “repeated, willful violations of state and federal mental health and substance use disorder parity laws.”

“At this time next year, we hope that the treatment landscape has changed, and we again will not be shaking our heads about the damage caused by this epidemic,” Mukkamala stated.

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Fentanyl disaster

The new NCHS information present overdose deaths involving opioids elevated from an estimated 70,029 in 2020 to 80,816 in 2021. Deaths attributed to artificial opioids, primarily fentanyl, numbered 71,238 in 2021, up from 57,834 in 2020.

AMA’s “2021 Overdose Report” famous opioid prescriptions have declined 44.4% from 2011 to 2020, however overdose deaths have elevated yearly from 2012 to 2020.

Meanwhile, the National Institute on Drug Abuse this yr publicized a research that discovered legislation enforcement seizures of capsules with fentanyl exploded from the beginning of 2018 to the top of 2021.

“An increase in illicit pills containing fentanyl points to a new and increasingly dangerous period in the United States,” NIDA Director Nora Volkow, MD, stated in a press launch. “Pills are often taken or snorted by people who are more naïve to drug use, and who have lower tolerances. When a pill is contaminated with fentanyl, as is now often the case, poisoning can easily occur.”

Other drug risks

In the most recent CDC figures, overdose deaths from different drug varieties had been:

Psychostimulants similar to methamphetamine, 32,856 in 2021, up from 24,576 in 2020.
Cocaine, 24,538 in 2021, up from 19,927 in 2020.
Natural and semi-synthetic medicine, 13,503 in 2021, down from 13,722 in 2020.

The largest proportion enhance in overdose deaths in 2021 occurred in Alaska, the place deaths had been up 75.3%, whereas overdose deaths in Wyoming didn’t enhance in any respect in 2021 and deaths in Hawaii declined 1.8% from the identical level in 2020, in accordance with CDC.

The figures are provisional and will change, in accordance with CDC.