Opioid Epidemic? Yes.
Dr Barry Marks, Chiropractor explains recent data on the rise of opioid deaths in America.
Opioid Crisis
According to a report by The National Safety Council (NSC) (1) using 2017 statistics, the opioid epidemic is getting more clear and urgent.
In fact, in the United States, your life time risk of dying from heart disease is 1 in 6. So as an example, get 6 Americans in a room. Look around. 1 of you will die from some sort of cardiovascular disease. Cancer is 1 in 7. So these are the leading causes of death in the US. As a result, we spend countless billions on combating these scourges.
Unquestionably, car accidents are among the more common causes of death in America. Vehicular deaths accounted for over 40,000 deaths in 2017. Your chance of dying in a car crash are 1 in 103. See that packed freeway on your commute? For every 103 cars, one person will die in a crash. Clearly, that’s a sobering thought. This is why the government, automakers and engineers work hard at making cars safer.
For the first time, opioid overdose has overtaken vehicle crashes as a cause of death. The fact is, your odds are now 1 in 96. The NSC reported more than 70,000 deaths occurred due to overdose of opioids. Worse yet, the numbers are soaring. While car accident deaths fell by 1% from 2016 to 2017, drug overdose rose by a whopping 9.6%. Looking at fentanyl alone, deaths rose 45% from the prior year.
There is no doubt, opioid deaths are at epidemic proportions.
Why has this happened?
To be clear, the opioid problem began years ago and can be blamed on 3 parties.
Drug manufacturers
Without a doubt, drug manufacturers heavily marketed to doctors pushing doctors to prescribe more and more opioid drugs as a safe form of pain control. Scott Hadland, MD, MPH reports that there is a direct relationship between money spent on direct to doctor marketing of opioids and the number of prescriptions written. Thereby, the more drug reps spent on doctors, the more scripts were written. Obviously, the problem is that the drug reps did not provide doctors with adequate information on the addictiveness of these drugs. Further, they did not educate them that they were to be used for moderate to severe pain for short courses of treatment.
Doctors
Unarguably, physicians have over prescribed and inappropriately prescribed opioids to millions of patients. Wittingly or not, doctors have the responsibility to know what they are prescribing. Patients were and in many instances still are, being prescribed opioids for mild pain or given prescriptions for prolonged periods of time. Some patients are susceptible to addiction and can get hooked after only a few doses. Others may take weeks, but the fact is addiction is fairly quick.
Patients
Ultimately, the healthcare consumer is responsible for their care. True, you should trust that your doctor and big drug manufacturer are providing a safe and effective treatment, but you can’t. Therefore, you need to research every drug you are given and educate yourself on side effects and safety. Moreover, the other manner in which patients are to blame is that they demand something be done. They want relief and they want it now. Unfortunately, pain doesn’t work that way. Pain is complex and many factors need to be addressed to achieve pain control. Therefore, expecting to just take a pill and all will be well is unreasonable.
Caution: If You’ve Been Taking Opioids for More Than a Couple of Weeks, Do Not Stop Taking Them Cold Turkey. You Could Have Withdrawals and Become Sick. See Your Prescribing Doctor and Have Them Taper You Off.
The Opioid Solution?
First, doctors and patients must be realistic in pain control methods. Next, safer, less addictive and non-pharmacological methods should be explored. For example, chiropractic, light and electrical therapies, etc. Learn more about natural chiropractic pain relief through other articles on this site.
Common Risks of Death 2017 from The National Safety Council
From least likely cause to most likely cause
- 1 in 218,106 lightning strike
- 1 in 188,364 airplane
- 1 in 46,562 wasp, bee sting
- 1 in 2,696 choking
- 1 in 1,117 drowning
- 1 in 285 gun assault
- 1 in 114 accidental falls
- 1 in 103 car crash
- 1 in 96 opioid overdose
- 1 in 88 suicide
- 1 in 7 cancer
- 1 in 6 heart disease
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References:
(1) https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/all-injuries/preventable-death-overview/odds-of-dying/
(2) Scott Hadland, M.D., M.P.H., pediatrician and addiction researcher, Boston Medical Center’s Grayken Center for Addiction; Linda Richter, Ph.D., director, policy analysis and research, Center on Addiction, New York City; Priscilla VanderVeer, deputy vice president of public affairs, PhRMA; Jan. 18, 2019, JAMA Network Open, online