From the CDC this week:
For the first time, abuse of painkillers and other medication is sending as many people to the emergency room as the use of illegal drugs.
In 2008, ERS saw an estimated 1 million visits from people abusing prescription or over-the-counter medicines — mostly painkillers and sedatives. That was about the same number of visits from those overdosing on heroin, cocaine and other illegal drugs, according to a government report released Thursday.
Only five years earlier, illegal drug visits outnumbered those from legal medications by a 2-to-1 margin.
In other words, the number of ER visits from medication abuse doubled, said Peter Delany of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
“It’s a pretty startling jump,” Delany said. He led a team that worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the report.
Painkillers and sedatives clearly drove the trend. ER visits for the painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone more than doubled from 2004 to 2008. And cases from one kind of tranquilizer nearly doubled.
One thing that doesn’t get mentioned as much (although it’s noted in this article) is how many people are overdosing and dying from methadone, a drug ostensibly used via medical supervision to help drug addicts safely kick their opiate habits.
Henry was physically addicted to opiates – pain pills. We have learned since his death that he had also recently begun using methadone in a misguided attempt to get off of the pills – methadone that was provided to him illegally rather than through a physician or clinic - and we believe that’s the last drug he took.
16 Responses to “U.S.: prescription drug overdoses now match/exceed the number of illegal drug overdoses”
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And addiction knows no age bounds, no socio-economic bounds, no race or gender bounds. The tragedies it causes are seemingly endless. No one can assume, “not my family member. not my friend.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37787756
A friend of mine died of an accidental prescription drug overdose this past November. Truly, truly tragic. He was 29 and took migraine medication after having consumed alcohol and that was it – gone. So, so preventable.
I feel your family and have been reading your stories about Henry – my own younger brother is a drug addict and has been in and out of both rehab and prison. He started experimenting with *prescription* drugs first – mainly the Adderal he was given for ADHD. That lead him to other drugs, mainly pot, but it was drugs that he was given by a doctor that started him down the road to experimentation. I firmly believe that if not the prescriptions, he would have found something else to be addicted to as it’s just a part of who he is. He has an addictive disease, just like I have epilepsy and I can’t change that. It truly is a disease. However, I also believe that if not for the prescriptions given to him when he was very young (9 yrs old), he might have had a longer childhood before battling his demons.
So much love to you and your family.
Katie,
You are truly remarkable. I’m so glad that you are trying to help others even in the midst of your tragedy. I wish there was something I could do to ease your pain. I’m just so sorry.
My 26 year old friend and co-worker died from methadone overdose less than a week after being released from a two week drug rehab program.
His opiate addiction also started with prescription pain pills.
He is missed.
If any good comes out of your tragic, horrible, loss of Henry, it will be increased awareness & hopefully assistance for the individuals & families facing addiction. I so admire your willingness to reach out and help others through Henry’s Fund.
From what I have read, methadone is particularly dangerous because the drug does not break down in the body & instead accumulates, rapidly building to toxic levels.
This is so scary. Kids who might have no clue how to find street drugs can so easily get hold of leftover hydrocodone from their own medicine cabinets!
Also not listed are the statistics of innocent people being killed or seriously injured by those abusing methodone treatment. My MIL and her male partner were hit head on by a guy who had combined methodone (prescribed to wean him off drugs) with weed. Her friend Hank, a wonderful old guy, died within 2 weeks of his injuries. My MIL has been struggling to recover, and her short term memory is almost completely shot.
Not sure what the solution is, since methodone treatment is valid in many cases. I guess it needs stricter monitoring.
I’ve heard that Oxycontin and painkillers and methadone are today’s killers in cases of drug overdose, and reading articles being linked to here certainly illustrate that.
What strikes me is that this is still self-medication–people putting themselves out of misery and into a fun place instead of dealing with their strong “bad” feelings and sensitivities.
The word that keeps coming to my mind is soma–the soma mentioned in Brave New World. The quotes related to it from the book are especially predictive and chilling: http://www.huxley.net/soma/somaquote.html
I wish so much that people would actually have education about feelings and how to develop coping skills like distress tolerance. Concepts such as feelings are not facts, feelings are not reality, you can change how you feel by changing *how* you think about and frame your interpretations of reality.
I honestly think that popular human culture as a whole has a narcissistic and borderline personality disorder flavor and as a species everyone could benefit from dialectical behavioral therapy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_behavior_therapy
How come coping skills aren’t taught in schools? At home? I just don’t get it.
On the day my cousin was murder, even with the sobbing, the room spinning and I feeling like the earth was turning up under me, one of the first thoughts I had was, “I NEED PILLS.” I booked an appointment with a doc I had never seen before – by the time I saw him 3 days later, I had even showered but had the presence of mind to get out of sweatpants and slap on a smile… oh, and leave out the details of my cousin’s death. I left with a 3 month prescription for Ambien which Medco (my insurance) gave to me in 90 pills. Soon, I realized I could get Trazadone and Klonopin too. Maybe rummage through a friend’s medicine cabinet for some Vicodin or Tylenol 3.
When I tell you this is not me, this is not who I am at all, I mean in. But when you are desperate and in agonizing pain, you just want to numb it. It’s not just my doc who so easily prescibed, my friend’s do too and that’s why I’ll often be offered: “Do you want this? It’s great for cramps.” Well, Tylenol is too.
I guess I just wanted to say, Katie is right and parents, hide those prescrip. meds. They are easier to get than liquor.
What never seems to get addressed with our nation’s youth when it comes to drugs: doing drugs feels really GOOD. That’s why you do them. It is an act that brings you pleasure. Even when you are hooked, it is because you are pursuing that high and all of the good feelings that come with it. It feels so good, in fact, that it consumes your life…and in the case of your son, it robs of you of your life.
This just never seems to be acknowledged, this fact. People don’t do things unless there is some payoff. That’s what makes drugs so damned insidious…the payoff to human beings is initially enormous. And when you decide it is no longer worth it, chasing that high, you’re hooked, and you’re stuck.
Being able to chase that high simply by rummaging in a medicine cabinet is mind boggling. My pharmacist, who I have known for over a decade, says that one of the latest crimes plaguing our nation are thugs following people home after they fill a scrip for painkillers or sedatives legitimately. The criminals follow the innocent people home, where they proceed to rob them for their drugs.
The government makes too money on methodone and all those prescription drugs bring in too much money. All drug users should have acsess to Ibogaine but the government would lose too much money. It is so sad how many die needlessly. No kid should be on prescription opiates ever.
Sorry, everyone, so many typos! I was so moved by Katie’s post, I was just blind writing a comment.
How did we get so addicted? What did we do be, long ago, before we could escape life’s ups and downs into…mind-altering, physiology-altering chemicals? Shirk away in some dark alley or some street corner to get a hit? Nope. Just take your insurance card and co-pay to the local General Practioner, some sorta ailment, and Dr. Feelgood will hook you up, all legal like.
I think Micaela way up there, you are onto something.
Tiffany
Alcohol is what people used, and still do.
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I’m right behind Micaela sentiments.
A self medicated drug culture. It’s all connected.
Many people use food like a drug, or shopping. Over spending and Obesity is part of the culture of self medication.
Watch TV we’re bombarded with the culture of medicalization for unimaginable ailments. The drug companies are inventing diseases to sell us a pharmaceutical for it. It makes sense that the next generation of addiction is with legal drugs.
The normal turmoil of adolescence is the perfect storm for some kids to start abusing, and self medicating feelings. My daughters first drug abusing experience was with prescribed medication chopped up and snorted, if it was not hers it was her friends medications.
And to address Laura’s comment about it feeling good to take drugs and get stoned. Not to everyone, only when someone is self medicating does it feel good. Otherwise it feels like crap and they don’t do it again.
Yes Dewi, self-medication and not actually facing/learning to cope with strong feelings is evident everywhere, including our consumer culture (consumation of food, energy, resources, drugs, alcohol, and even shopping or gambling). To me, it’s a sign of civilization in decline, when artists are few and far between and certainly not supported by its civilization, and when everyone wants to turn off deep or stressful feelings because so many people aren’t taught the skills.
I do think there is something to Laura Linger’s comments–yes, recreational drug and alcohol use can feel real good and I do think some folks are wired to “turn on” easily to good feelings and a high. But I still believe that underneath that is an escape–a self-medicating of feelings. I don’t think there are any children or adults who are recreational drug or alcohol users who do it solely for the high or buzz. When I have a glass of wine every now and then, it’s definitely to relax and chill out, which I am very aware means partly numbing myself. Since I haven’t been taught really great meditation and self-soothing skills (I am learning and growing in this area), I occasionally turn the volume down on my life with a glass of wine. It’s not just to feel good or have fun, it’s to diminish strong sensations or emotions or worries.