Drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in U.S., data show

[Demeter]

Source: LATIMES

Propelled by an increase in prescription narcotic overdoses, drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the United States, a Times analysis of government data has found.

Drugs exceeded motor vehicle accidents as a cause of death in 2009, killing at least 37,485 people nationwide, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While most major causes of preventable death are declining, drugs are an exception. The death toll has doubled in the last decade, now claiming a life every 14 minutes. By contrast, traffic accidents have been dropping for decades because of huge investments in auto safety.

Public health experts have used the comparison to draw attention to the nation's growing prescription drug problem, which they characterize as an epidemic. This is the first time that drugs have accounted for more fatalities than traffic accidents since the government started tracking drug-induced deaths in 1979.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-drugs-epidemic-20110918,0,3660682.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fnews+%28L.A.+Times+-+Top+News%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

[bemildred]

1. And notice that it is the prescription drugs. nt

[99th_Monkey]

8. The lion's share of these deaths are outright suicides, not "drug abuse" or accidental.

I'm not jumping on this bandwagon, to demonize and "crack down" on use of perfectly legal and effective pharmaceuticals
such as codeine, oxycodone, and vicodin to manage pain (medications who's patents ran out long ago, and are available
the the rich and poor alike.

The infirm, the helpless, the poor, and the old are not only being told by the status quo to, in effect, just go away and
die quietly; we/they are also being told that we must also suffer horribly in the process or pay exorbitantly for Big
Pharma' "new improved" pain management drugs that only the wealthy can afford.

[Fozzledick]

2. I guess tobacco and alcohol aren't drugs

and 500,000 deaths a year don't count.

[dkf]

3. They probably classify alcohol deaths differently...cirrhosis of the liver, car accident, etc.

[InkAddict]

9. Tobacco is not a drug; ingested ethyl alcohol is a chemical compound

a useful solvent and a neuro-depressant when ingested that is processed through human digestive processes on sugar to create cellular energy.

I guess you meant nicotine, an alkaloid chemical substance, derived from the leaves of the tobacco plant, genus Nicotiana, found in the nightshade family of plants (Solanaceae). It is mainly useful as a deadly toxin for insects, impairing their nervous systems; in low doses in humans, it is both a physical and psychologically addictive neuro-stimulant. The industry adds other ingredients to their products that together produce carcinogenic toxic by-products.

Ingested ethyl alcohol, a neuro-depressent, bonds mainly with GABA neurotransmitters. It is created by the fermentation process of sugars by specialized yeast with/and without enzymes, The compound is metabolized through the Kreb's cycle, the third step in the processing of carbohydrates on their way to providing cellular-useable energy. Whether made with various components or processed via various methods, it has varied uses, many of which cause injury to the human body; however, it is one of the earliest known compounds and in humans that can be both physically and psychologically addictive and lethal at high concentration.

But I know what you meant.

[Psephos]

11. The perpetual elephant in the corner. n/t

[Bennyboy]

4. The number of Marijuana deaths is staggering!

Still ZERO. Forever and ever.

[christx30]

10. You ever try to do a

majajuana overdose suicide? It's damn near impossible. You smoke a small forest worth of the stuff and suddenly you forget what you're doing. Life goes on.

[Fumesucker]

5. Need to crack down harder on the damn potheads..

It's all their fault this is happening.






































:sarcasm:

[SteveM]

6. I hope the study controlled for other drugs, and esp. alcohol use...

In the past, studies of the deadly effects of one drug or another (Cocaine, Heroin), have been based on deaths at hospital intakes. Many of these deaths came about from the toxilogical effects of not just one drug, but from the combination with others, mainly alcohol. Edema is the chief cause of Heroin deaths, but most of these fatalities may have been from simultaneous use of alcohol. Most Heroin addicts are alcoholics. Some of these studies, widely distributed in MSM, were promulgated initially by drug-prohibitionist organizations, and did not report combination/alcohol use.

That said, the best way to reduce ODs, IMO, is to legalize and control drug distribution to addicts. Undersell the illegal dealer at a distribution center may create a forum whereby addicts get better info as to the dangers of OD, infection and control of their habits, even to the point of holding down a job.

Prescription abuse does not surprise me. For some years, Heroin and Cocaine have been selling for half-price (compared with the 90s), and the "quality" of these drugs has become stronger; yet, addiction has topped out or gone down.

[BobbyBoring]

7. Most heroin addicts are alcoholics??

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:



While there are a few cross addicted folks, most heroin addicts stay far away from alcohol. It blows the high, Trust me!

[SteveM]

13. When you get through rolling around on the floor...

http://www.thegooddrugsguide.com/heroin/mixing.htm

"Heroin is a bad mixer and will only make the chances of unconsciousness, vomiting and choking greater. Only 21% of fatal overdoses in a recent Australian survey came about through using heroin by its lonesome."

"alcohol and heroin both depress the central nervous system. The combination has proven fatal."

And there is this as well...

http://www.skeptically.org/recdrugs/id24.html

"Our data suggest that ethanol enhances the acute toxicity of heroin, and that ethanol use indirectly influences fatal overdose through its association with infrequent (nonaddictive) heroin use and thus with reduced tolerance to the acute toxic effects of heroin."

"found that blood ethanol concentrations in excess of 1000 mg/L raised by a factor of 22 the odds of a heroin user experiencing a fatal overdose."

"The concomitant use of heroin and ethanol is well recognized and considered dangerous..."

____________

We can argue over what constitutes "alcoholism," "excessive drinking," and the like, but there is a well-established relationship between heroin use and and alcohol use when death so-called "overdose" death rates are considered. I meant this to be a serious discussion about the need to change prohibitionist policy, not a game of gotcha.

:shrug:

[DrunkenBoat]

12. If true, I find this pretty surprising. Auto accidents have been the leading cause of death --

as long as I can remember.

If drugs have overtaken them, I think it's big news.

When I was young, the drugs we were exposed to were pot, hash, some of the psychedelics and various pills.

A friends son died of opiate OD last year -- he was 17, a good student, college-bound, etc. I would have never imagined those boys were using opiates.

Moreover, it's pretty obvious to me that drug culture has changed dramatically since I was young. Drugs are literally *everywhere* now. Someone OD'd next door a few years ago, in fact. A few blocks over someone was making meth, & there was someone with a full-fledged sales operation just a few houses down.

There was a burroughs book i read once -- maybe junkie -- talking about how he could sense or smell "junk" in certain neighborhoods. If you're looking you can see the signs in most places.

I find it sad & creepy, and a prime sign of decline. A feeling that became even stronger once I came to believe that our rulers are the primary pushers, and "drug culture" is manufactured by them to divert oppositional energy that could be used against them. You're a rebel? You don't go with the mainstream? Commodify your dissent, try this.