• Aging and Sex
  • For men
    • Multi Vitamin for Him CPA
    • Practical Tips to Maintain Sexual Virility
    • ProSolution Plus is a Natural Remedy For Premature Ejaculation
  • for women
    • Breast Actives CPA
    • Four Ways To Look Young
    • Ten Ways to Look Like a Model Bride
  • Home Based Business
    • AWESOME EASY CASH MONEY TO YOU TODAY!
    • Craft Idea for a Group: Make a Mural
    • DIGISOFT PAYLINE How to Make Instant Money Now DIGISOFT PAYLINE
    • Getting Your Family Involved In Your Home Business
    • Home Based Real Estate Investing
    • Home Based Real Estate Investing
    • How To Become A Work At Home Mom
    • How to Get Free Rent
    • Make Extra Cash & Work From Home!
    • Strategies for Success in the Exciting and Lucrative Home-Based Business of Jewelry & Gemstones
    • THE INTERNATIONAL PROJECT OF THE 21st CENTURY
    • WIN FREE DOGECOINS EVERY HOUR!
  • How you can Regain your Youthful Appearance without Expensive Treatments or Surgery!
  • Intelligent nutritional supplements
    • Antioxidants Nutrients Have Powerful Anti-Cancer Activity!
    • AsthmaMist CPA
    • What Are Phytoceramides?
    • Cleanse the Body, Curb Unhealthy Cravings, and Lose Weight with ProShape Rx
  • interesting idea, hobby
    • Christmas Craft: Bead and Pipe Cleaner Ornaments
    • Wedding Crafts Ideas for Saving Money
  • Natural products for weight loss
    • Natural Weight Loss Products
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms And Conditions

Health and Beauty

The site is about the beauty and health of men, women, children

  • Home

Enter your email address:

Spam Blocked

18,994 spam blocked by Akismet

Fentanyl Drives Rise in Opioid-Linked Deaths in U.S.

  • Health

News Picture: Fentanyl Drives Rise in Opioid-Linked Deaths in U.S.By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

Latest Mental Health News

THURSDAY, Aug. 31, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Fentanyl, a synthetic narcotic, is a key player in America’s continuing epidemic of opioid-related overdose deaths, two new studies report.

Opioid OD deaths began increasing early this decade as people addicted to prescription painkillers started switching to heroin, which became cheaper and increased in supply, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

But the emergence of fentanyl and its cousins drove an even greater increase in overdose deaths, exacerbating an already terrible situation, the researchers said.

In 2015 alone, about 33,000 people died of an opioid overdose in the United States.

When drug traffickers began mixing fentanyl into the heroin supply, they created a highly potent narcotic cocktail that has proven fatal to thousands of drug users, investigators noted.

“Approximately half of the increase in deaths involving heroin after 2013 is attributable to increases in deaths involving use of both heroin and fentanyl,” researchers with the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control wrote in one of the studies.

But deaths from fentanyl-type drugs with no heroin involvement also increased substantially in recent years.

About 90 percent of OD deaths in Ohio early this year involved fentanyl or its chemical cousins, state public health officials reported in the second paper. Only 6 percent of overdoses involved heroin.

In essence, the U.S. opioid epidemic has progressed to a new and more dangerous wave, said Dr. Harshal Kirane, director of addiction services at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City.

Prescription drug abuse represented the first wave, followed by the switch to heroin, said Kirane. Heroin began to be cut with fentanyl, and now people are seeking out and using fentanyl on its own.

“This data suggests that synthetic opioids now are being used as the primary substance itself,” Kirane said. “That represents another tragic step in our opioid crisis.”

Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, making it much more powerful than either heroin or prescription opioids, according to the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.

If someone doesn’t know the heroin they just bought is laced with fentanyl, it’s easy to accidentally overdose.

“Many people are unaware that they may be risking their life when they think they are simply buying heroin to support their ongoing prescription drug habit,” said Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

After 2013, deaths caused by the combined use of heroin and synthetic opioids accounted for 77 percent of the total increase in heroin-related deaths in the U.S. Northeast and Midwest, the two regions with the sharpest increases in fentanyl use, CDC researchers said.

The emergence of ever-stronger fentanyl analogues poses an even greater risk. Carfentanyl, in particular, is one of the most potent cousins to fentanyl, even more powerful than the original substance, Kirane said.

“People who buy fentanyl online are playing Russian roulette,” Glatter said. “These drugs are incredibly powerful in the smallest amounts and can kill you instantly.”

Synthetic opioids are so powerful that naloxone, the overdose-reversal medication, can be rendered ineffective, Kirane said. Naloxone (Narcan) may not work at all, or the person may need more naloxone than is on hand to counter an overdose.

The nation continues to lose ground in its fight against opioids because it hasn’t tackled the root issue of addiction, said Lindsey Vuolo, associate director of health law and policy at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

“We don’t have a significantly higher number of people who are getting treatment. That is the major problem,” Vuolo said. “We have to expand access to evidence-based treatment.”

FDA-approved medications for opioid addiction like methadone and buprenorphine protect against overdose, Vuolo said. On the other hand, people not in treatment will continue to use drugs and will be exposed to ever-more-potent synthetic opioids.

Results from both studies appear in the CDC’s Aug. 31 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

MedicalNews
Copyright © 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

SOURCES: Harshal Kirane, M.D., director, addiction services, Staten Island University Hospital, New York City; Robert Glatter, M.D., emergency physician, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; Lindsey Vuolo, J.D., MPH, associate director, health law and policy, National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse; Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Aug. 31, 2017

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

September 4, 2017 admin

Post navigation

Is practicing yoga a move of wisdom? → ← How to lose weight if your hormones are out of balance

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Genital Warts Natural and Alternative Treatment Remedies 1,695 views
  • ‘Love Hormone’ Oxytocin May Enhance Feelings Of Spirituality 942 views
  • Ginseng: Root of Immortality 843 views
  • WIN FREE DOGECOINS EVERY HOUR! 828 views
  • Get Rid of Cellulite, Once and For All! 695 views
  • THE INTERNATIONAL PROJECT OF THE 21st CENTURY 687 views
  • Breast Actives CPA 660 views
  • Make Extra Cash & Work From Home! 614 views

Popular articles

  • Genital Warts Natural and Alternative Treatment Remedies 1,695 views | under alternative medetsina
  • ‘Love Hormone’ Oxytocin May Enhance Feelings Of Spirituality 942 views | under alternative medetsina
  • Ginseng: Root of Immortality 843 views | under alternative medetsina
  • WIN FREE DOGECOINS EVERY HOUR! 828 views
  • Get Rid of Cellulite, Once and For All! 695 views | under Body Health
  • THE INTERNATIONAL PROJECT OF THE 21st CENTURY 687 views
  • Breast Actives CPA 660 views
  • Make Extra Cash & Work From Home! 614 views
Buy Brand Drugs

Archives

Powered by WordPress | theme SG Double