Mastodawn

Drug overdose deaths fall for 6 months straight as officials wonder what's working

https://lemmy.world/post/21027824

Drug overdose deaths fall for 6 months straight as officials wonder what's working - Lemmy.World

Coast to coast, major U.S. cities are seeing measurable drops in drug overdose deaths. Public health officials welcome the news despite an inability to fully explain the decrease. After years of rising, the tide may finally be turning on deadly drug overdoses [https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/overdose-deaths-decreased-first-time-5-years-still-topped-100000-rcna152193] in America. Drug overdose deaths fell 12.7% in the 12 months ending in May, according to preliminary data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm]. “This is the largest recorded reduction in overdose deaths,” White House officials said in a statement [https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/briefing-room/2024/10/16/white-house-drug-policy-director-statement-on-latest-drug-overdose-death-data/]. “And the sixth consecutive month of reported decreases in predicted 12-month total numbers of drug overdose deaths.” It’s also the first time since early 2021 that the number of estimated drug overdose deaths for a 12-month period fell below 100,000, to 98,820. It’s categorically good news. It’s also a bit puzzling to the public health experts who have been working for years to stop the upward trajectory of opioid deaths, driven primarily by fentanyl.

darthsid Oct 19, 2024

Because druggies are dying and are not being replaced fast enough

Bluefalcon Oct 19, 2024

Doctor’s are bring watched for how many pills the prescribe. Add education to a new generation that watched their parents destroy their lives.

solrize Oct 19, 2024

Gotta ask how many of those overdose pills were actually prescribed, rather than illicit from the start.

ZombiFrancis Oct 19, 2024

There were pharmacies refilling prescriptions indefinitely, including expired ones.

Or I knew of at least one pharmacy that was in my area. That helped keep the flow going. The prescription was just the first step.

Also people would hit a range of pharmacies on ome prescription.

JaymesRS Oct 19, 2024

Possibly related: npr.org/…/ozempic-semaglutide-alcohol-drug-treatm…

Dankob Oct 19, 2024

U think any drug addict can afford ozempic even

JaymesRS Oct 19, 2024

I know a few physicians who have already been seeing it in their practice.

Snot Flickerman Oct 19, 2024

If you’re not in a shithole Republican state: the ACA allows lots of homeless drug addicts to seek treatment they would otherwise be unable to afford, because they don’t have income or a home, so they qualify for most treatments to be covered. This allows many to fix their lives, although many still do not. Yes, obese meth addicts with heart failure exist.

IninewCrow Oct 19, 2024

If you tell people that if they do a certain thing that it will most likely kill them or have a high likelihood of killing them … eventually enough people begin to understand that.

Children and young people are also very intelligent people with no preconceived or prejudiced ideas of their own (unless taught by someone else) … so they are quick to learn from the mistakes of others around them if given the chance.

otp Oct 19, 2024

If you tell people that if they do a certain thing that it will most likely kill them or have a high likelihood of killing them … eventually enough people begin to understand that.

And the important part is that it’s the truth this time.

Before, they were saying weed would kill people. That got a segment of a generation who would grow up wondering “What else were they lying about?”

IninewCrow Oct 19, 2024

The difference this time is that just about everyone now knows someone who either died or was severely affected by opioids. No better way to drive home the truth than by direct examples and demonstrations.

Personally, I know four people who died of drug overdoses, a dozen more in my extended circle of family and friends and two who are living vegetables from overdoses.

I’m willing to bet that you probably know someone yourself.

otp Oct 20, 2024

Yeah, it went from “Any illegal drug will kill you or drive you insane”, to “All that anti-drug stuff is nonsense, they aren’t THAT bad” to finally, a much more nuanced “Some drugs should definitely not be fucked with”.

catloaf Oct 19, 2024

The article isn’t loading for me, but only looking at the past few months or years isn’t indicative of a larger trend, because COVID caused outliers in just about every data set. I’ll believe it if it’s down compared to 2010 and earlier.

Edit: it loaded, and yeah when they compare to 2018 it’s similar or slightly down. So it’s just returning to pre-covid levels.

KaptinBackstabba Oct 19, 2024

Public and first responder access to Narcan. Paramedic and I haven’t had to administer it in months thanks to bystanders, law enforcement and fire rescue getting it on board before I arrive

ByteOnBikes Oct 20, 2024

In my city, there’s a LOT of homeless addicts who abuse drugs. My city invested heavily in providing specialists who walk around with narcan and other supplies.

A few years prior to that, Law enforcement used to arrest these addicts.

Corkyskog Oct 21, 2024

I think it’s as simple as education at all levels. More people carry narcan. Dealers are selling lower purity stuff. Imitation pills are becoming better measured with less dosage fluctuations. Less people are doing hard drugs in the first place.