Drug overdose deaths spike among middle-aged women

[The Straight Story]

ATLANTA (AP) — Overdose deaths in the U.S. are rising fastest among middle-aged women, and their drug of choice is usually prescription painkillers, the government reported Tuesday.

"Mothers, wives, sisters and daughters are dying at rates that we have never seen before," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which compiled the data.

The problem is one of the few health issues the CDC is working on that are clearly getting worse, he added.

For many decades, the overwhelming majority of U.S. overdose deaths were men killed by heroin or cocaine. But by 2010, 40 percent were women — most of them middle-aged women who took prescription painkillers.

Skyrocketing female overdose death rates are closely tied to a boom in the overall use of prescribed painkillers. The new report is the CDC's first to spotlight how the death trend has been more dramatic among women.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/drug-overdose-deaths-spike-among-middle-aged-women

[RainDog]

1. They don't know how many of these are suicides

neither do I. but this economy is pretty bleak for females, so I wouldn't be surprised if this increase had to do with the current American economic situation.

One striking finding: The greatest increases in drug overdose deaths were in women ages 45 through 54, and 55 through 64. The rate for each of those groups more than tripled between 1999 and 2010.

If someone "accidentally" overdoses, they don't forfeit an insurance benefit for their families.

who knows.

[idwiyo]

29. They DON'T WANT TO KNOW how many of these are suicides, IMO.

I don't know either, but I do know several people personally, and several more through friends, who either killed themselves or tried to kill themselves with the help of painkillers. The only reason few of them are still alive is because they either (thankfully) didn't have enough or (thankfully) didn't know how to do it correctly.

[Warpy]

2. I would hazard a guess that a lot of these are suicides

because middle aged women are pretty much unemployable in this kind of job market unless they're thin and look younger than they are.

I have to admit that during my last 3 year stint of poverty, an OD on a combination of pain med, tricyclics and muscle relaxers started to look pretty damned good.

When a government gets stupid and destroys hope, the suicides happen first. Then all hell breaks loose.

[The Straight Story]

3. What would be the best way to address the issues here then?

Focus on the pills used, or the reasons they were used?

[Warpy]

4. That's the way it will be addressed but that just means

women will turn to OTC overdoses, several of which are quite efficient.

What should be done is finding a way to override the Republican Party and all its warring factions and get jobs bills and a hike in the minimum wage through. That's the only thing that will fix the problem: employment and work that pays enough wages to live on.

Every wretched economic ill that plagues this country hits women first and hardest.

[The Straight Story]

5. Well stated (nt)

[RainDog]

6. Suicides have increased dramatically among all groups

and this coincides with the economic depression.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/health/suicide-rate-rises-sharply-in-us.html

Suicide rates among middle-aged Americans have risen sharply in the past decade, prompting concern that a generation of baby boomers who have faced years of economic worry and easy access to prescription painkillers may be particularly vulnerable to self-inflicted harm.

The most pronounced increases were seen among men in their 50s, a group in which suicide rates jumped by nearly 50 percent, to about 30 per 100,000. For women, the largest increase was seen in those ages 60 to 64, among whom rates increased by nearly 60 percent, to 7.0 per 100,000.

Suicide rates can be difficult to interpret because of variations in the way local officials report causes of death. But C.D.C. and academic researchers said they were confident that the data documented an actual increase in deaths by suicide and not a statistical anomaly. While reporting of suicides is not always consistent around the country, the current numbers are, if anything, too low.

“It’s vastly underreported,” said Julie Phillips, an associate professor of sociology at Rutgers University who has published research on rising suicide rates. “We know we’re not counting all suicides.”

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/03/suicides-almost-double-among-50-somethings/

Between 1999 and 2010, suicides in the 35-to-64 age group increased 28.4%, according to the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Suicides among people aged 50 to 59 years old specifically almost doubled during that time period.

Suicide rates in this age group were highest among American Indians and Alaska Natives, according to the report. The next biggest increase was seen in whites. Among American Indians and Alaska Natives, the suicide rate for women jumped 81.4%; for men it was a 59.5% increase.

The three most common suicide methods were firearms, poisoning and suffocation.

Nobody has data yet on why suicides are increasing in this age group, says Lanny Berman, executive director of the American Association of Suicidology. "But the working assumption is that it's related to the economic recession."

[HiPointDem]

7. also tied to an increase in suicides.

[Comrade Grumpy]

8. Emphasizing suicides (with no evidence) minimizes the real risk of accidental overdose deaths.

More people are ODing because there are so many more pain pills (and others) being prescribed.

Things that can be done:

--Reduce the resort to opiates in the first place, and try to keep their use short-term.

--Make sure the OD reversal drug narcan (Naloxone) is available in your state.

--Make sure Good Samaritan 911 laws are in effect in your state. The provide protection from prosecution for people overdosing or reporting overdoses. That encourages people to seek help.

--Support education programs, especially about the synergistic effects of using multiple drugs, especially alcohol. The vast majority of accidental ODs involve multiple drugs.

[idwiyo]

30. Problem is that no one knows how many of those are purely accidental and how many are deliberate,

excluding the ones where intent was to commit a suicide.

Deliberate as where dosage is increased by the patient because the drug doesn't work anymore, or because there is nothing else available, or because they are addicted, or because they are using it as means of escape from reality.

[Warren DeMontague]

9. I think the DEA is deseperate for new justifications for its $$$$80 Billion a year budget outlays

Something like 90% of the DEA's mission involves trying to keep pot smokers from getting high. But legalization is coming. Pretty soon that part of the drug war gravy train is going to dry up.

...If more people are taking pain meds, its because the population is getting older. Duh.

Meanwhile we still live in a country that does stuff like throwing quadriplegics in prison or managing their own pain. We have bone cancer patients suffering in crippling agony because their doctors are terrified if the DEA.

I just don't fall for drug war scare-mongering anymore. I'd be more worried about having some painful condition unable to get relief because of Authoritarian bullshit, than panic at the thought that someone, somewhere, might catch an unauthorized buzz.

[Comrade Grumpy]

10. The increase in overdose deaths is real, and depressing.

But what is as depressing is that the DEA responds by intimidating pain doctors and pharmacies into tightening up so much that people who really need those pills to avoid agony have problems obtaining them.

We can take actions to reduce overdose deaths. See my post above, for example.

And maybe we can one day take action to dismantle the DEA. Who the fuck made them experts in pain medication, anyway?

[Warren DeMontague]

12. Thanks for that. Im not minimizing the dangers, and i agree with your points.

I just am jaded from a lot of scare campaigns in the media, etc. Invariably the end result is not "how can we prevent overdoses and safely manage pain" (legalizing cannabis would be one good safe place to start)

...but rather "what additional draconian laws can we write, how many more prison cells can we fill with people like Richard Paey"... That sort of thing.

It pisses me off.

[BainsBane]

18. Actually overdoses from prescription drugs are far more common

and deadly than from illegal drugs, so says Dr. Drew.

[BainsBane]

11. Amazing that certain members haven't come

to denounce you for posting on something as trivial as the deaths of women, as they do every time I post a thread about violence against women. I guess what they really resent is women thinking they have a right to speak in public about such issues.

[The Straight Story]

13. Perhaps because of how you are viewing things

"to denounce you for posting on something as trivial as the deaths of women"

It is not about trivializing the deaths of anyone. Seeing all as equal; this is not about women but about deaths of people.

You will note that the majority of drug overdose are still men. Tis not about men or women though (although the article is about the uptick in which gender is experiencing the increase) in an overall sense. But maybe there IS something in it all that warrants looking into why women, more than men, are increasingly dying from overdoses.

I think maybe they come down on you for making it about one gender and not looking at it all when it comes to issues. The issues that affect women can, and do, also affect men in many ways.

Maybe they are not coming down on me because I am not trying to divide but unite. Men and women are victims all too often - not because of gender but because of their station in life. Poor, lower middle class, etc.

Are some victims because of race/gender/etc - yes. And those are issues we as progressives do address and care about. All too often though it comes around to us, me and others here and elsewhere, are the problem and need to be fixed/educated and told we don't care or ignore these issues.

Truth is, while that may at times be the case, overall we are all struggling together against biases from those higher in power/money and we all are getting screwed over by the few.

I get told I am a sexist, homophobe, pro-killing (over gun issues), etc - attacked by the very people I am working with to make this a better place for all. Hell, I remember not agreeing a snickers ad was homophobic and being called a child molester over it all back in the day here. I am not seen as an ally but as a person who needs to be better educated and taught that they are wrong, like I am stupid and uncaring.

It gets tiring after awhile trying to live up to what others want when I, and others, are trying hard for all under the big tent. I am pro-choice, pro gay marriage, I get that women are screwed over the world over and want that to change, I am for equal rights for all.

But if I dare not agree with someone on anything when it comes to the whole discussion I am suddenly worthless. Look at the whole femen episode here. Or the discussions on benevolent sexism. Don't agree 100%? Sexist pig. Shut up.

Men have it made in this world compared to women. Straight people do more than gays. Whites more than other races. Many of us see that and want justice, want things fixed, and will walk right along with others to make that happen. But if we don't always agree on the methods or ideals we are thrown to the curb as not being pure enough.

--Take this article as an example. How many of those women are of color or are gay? How many are transgendered?

How many men have killed themselves because our society tells them they should be X but they feel they are Y?

I tend to like to get to the core of things. Whether it is why some use guns the way they do or why some use pills, etc. There is a greater issue here that gets ignored because people have their pet issues.

And maybe we should start looking at us all as victims of the few and working on ways to help each other and quit making each other out to be the bad guy.

[BainsBane]

14. Give me a fucking break

Not trying to divide but unite? Posting about serial killers and violence against women isn't trying to divide. It's trying to inform. That they take it personally reflects on who they are.

[The Straight Story]

15. I remember the post you are referring to

The one dealing with Mexico/Border right?

The point some were trying to make is that violence against anyone is bad.

Folks don't get that women are more abused and violated than men based on their sex? Yeah - they do. But they also get that men, more than women are killed through wars and such (when it comes to who is sent into wars to fight). Young black men and Latinos are more likely to be killed/injured/arrested than other groups.

Both men and women get screwed over time and again by the few. Men grown up expecting they will someday have to fight - hence registering for a draft.

The culture as it is screws us both over - the folks who benefit the most are the wealthy and powerful.

If you think your enemy is us progressive folks here than I don't know what to tell you. Are women victims? Yes, they often are. But so are many others. I tend to be an advocate for all - but bringing up other victims of our culture seems to mean, to some, that lessens the problems of others.

It does not. I want solutions for us all, not just one group.

[BainsBane]

17. There have been several

Violence against anyone is bad, but the Juarez killings happen to be a single cluster of crimes. It would be like asking why those writing about the Zimmerman case aren't talking about everyone who was killed in Florida.

There was also a graphic from Occupy the NRA about gun deaths of women. Within the same few minutes I posted something about all gun deaths, but a couple of men with ZERO interest in any threads about gun violence entered to denounce a discussion of gun deaths against women. One even insisted we shouldn't talk about women as victims of domestic violence, as though gender played no role.

None of those posts ever said anything to contradict the idea that violence against everyone is bad or that both men and women get screwed over all the time. NOTHING.
In fact both said that homicide rates for men were actually higher. The disruptors couldn't be bothered to read though. They see the word women and they pounce.

Everyone who claims to be a progressive is not my ally. There are some making that claim who are far to the right of Republicans I know. That someone claims a label means nothing. What matters is what they work for.

[The Straight Story]

20. Why do you think that is:

"They see the word women and they pounce."

I have been here since 2004, was reading the site daily well before that.

Progressives were, fairly well, on the same page. Us vs Them on a slew of issues. Oh, we had our moments (keep your powder dry over gay issues being one example). Now that Obama is in office?

It has become a fight over who is more pure on an issue. Don't agree with someone on an issue regarding women? You are a sexist (and if you are a women, you are just ignorant and brainwashed).

We, as a big tent, have now become more fragmented. You talk about women as a victim of gun violence. I can say, both as a former deputy and as a news hound, more men are shot than women. Women are more sexually abused to be sure (though when it comes to prison and catholic church more men/boys were abused).

Me. You. And others have been victims of others and want to change things. When you make it about just one group you dismiss another one....like playing a game of who is the biggest victim.

Which might play well when it comes to confronting the RW, but when it comes to people here we have seen how this is true for a multitude of groups.

When friends are attacked, called sexist, etc, you are removing allies from your side. You tell a man that is on your side he is not because he is, unknown to him, a sexist because he holds open a door for someone - well you best expect some blow back. When you tell someone they are not a victim because they cannot be, or that they are not as big a victim as you...you can expect they won't agree.

Why is it so hard to get that so many of us are screwed over and that we are not out to get each other? Why does it have to be 'well, I am a victim more than you'?

Maybe people are tired of getting dismissed and told they are sexist and wrong and that they cannot be a victim because they just don't get it.

[BainsBane]

22. Why would you assume Democrats are immune to sexism?

It is hardly the case. There is no evidence linking party affiliation with tendency to rape or commit domestic battery.

Amazing how this argument about division is raised ONLY when it comes to women. Race, LGBT, all of that is fine. Women dare to speak and you insist we are trying to divide. There is nothing progressive about that. I have attributed this phenomenon to the fact the average age on this site is so advanced. It's a retrograde viewpoint that one seldom sees in the 21st century.

When people oppose what matters most to me in life, they are not my allies, no matter what party they claim to vote for. Evidently you think voting D gives people a free pass to treat others as inferior. I reject that notion.

[The Straight Story]

24. I get that, really I do, but do you get that not agreeing

does not mean a person is sexist?

You look at a subject through your eyes. Others can see it in a different way.

Just because we don't agree on some things does not mean we don't agree on others.

Telling people holding open doors makes them a sexist can rub folks the wrong way (for example), especially when they lived a life where being polite meant something to them and it was there way of saying 'thanks' to women who did so much for them - like raising them, etc.

You can say it is because a person sees a woman as weaker, they can see it as respect for people who have had to bust their ass and a way to say thanks.

When you start to tell people what they think, solely based on what you have read/believe, it can become a problem. Closing your mind to other views does not help.

[BainsBane]

25. Not the fucking doors

Give it a rest.

[The Straight Story]

28. Ah, so now maybe you are getting what others are saying

It is not about X. It is about Y.

I really did get the whole issue. Far more than I will get credit for I am sure.

From the male view it was an attempt to show us all how ignorant we are and how controlling and uncaring we are. That we treat others differently than we treat ourselves (hello, do people think we are stupid???).

Men tend to like women more than other men. I am not sure why this is bad. It is not because we want to screw everyone in sight. It is not because we all think women are less than men.

Maybe. Just maybe. It is because we value where we are different and it is our way of showing some respect and appreciation of women.

But no. It is all because we are sexist pigs who are stupid and need educated.

[BainsBane]

19. Another was someone else's thread on the WHO report

on domestic violence against women. These guys were actually outraged WHO had done the report. That's as retrograde as it gets.

[The Straight Story]

21. Would that be anything like

A report done on people who died from shootings vs people who died from other causes?

I too would be upset if we focused on the way people committed domestic violence than on domestic violence.

But some like to focus on the how and not the why, and they think the cure is removing the how.

Maybe instead of new laws to remove the how we should focus on the why?

[BainsBane]

23. The Word Health Organization

Jesus. That would be like when men rape and/or beat the crap out of their partners, as is the case with 36% of women on the planet.

When people are busy suppressing information, they can hardly focus on why. Nor do they care about why. I'll tell you why abusers do it: because they get away with it, because women are devalued in society. Keeping women quiet and suppressing information on violence against women is one way in which that devaluation is perpetrated.

[The Straight Story]

26. Well, now, that is interesting

"I'll tell you why abusers do it: because they get away with it, because women are devalued in society"

And yet I have seen you talk often about how people with guns do what they do solely because... well ... they own a gun.

Here you offer a reason, and explanation and want answers and solutions. "When people are busy suppressing information, they can hardly focus on why. Nor do they care about why" - time after time I have said that the few, the very few, with guns act out and we should look at why and no one focuses on why. And said people don't care about the why - they just want to make laws that makes them feel better.

I agree - let's focus on why, and not how - so that we can solve issues that are deeper than how.

[Kurovski]

16. Medical Marijauna would help with this.

Even with some of these deaths that are from suicides, of which I suspect a fair number are.

I heard a women report she was up to 70 pills a day.

I can hardly get enough to keep the screaming at bay! (4-5 a day) That's some talent.

Or probably a fair amount of money handy.

I have a big issue with people who abuse it recreationally. it makes it very difficult for people who actually need it.

[Sherman A1]

27. Thanks for Posting.

Sounds like a BBC piece I was listening to while commuting the other day.