[Vendome]

Something about this seems like a load of crap.

In the last 5 years opioid deaths have skyrocketed?

[Drago]

More than double the opioid deaths over the last 10 years (up about 68% in 5 years):

https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"Something about this seems like a load of crap."

No, heroin and opiod use in general is out of control. A lot of times it starts with legal prescription drugs like Oxy and Hyrdo codone. Fentanyl and all of it's derivatives is the big cause. One of those Fentanyl family of drugs is used to sedate elephants and its out on the street in the heroin. In Pa, the law enforcement are starting to be required to wear gloves because some of the drugs they are dealing with can seep into your skin if you touch it.

We have a lot of problems in America right now, but perhaps the largest one is drug addiction.

[PghBaldy]

I agree. It is a concerted effort to control (white) people, it seems. Obama let out black drug dealers, but at same time all of these stories about mostly white druggies appeared, including pictures of dead people. There are not doing this out of compassion or concern for us. Both parties are doing it, it is an obvious scheme to influence and control people. Not sure what the goals are, but I know it will make it even harder for people to get the help they need since the police state will naturally extend their grip on doctors, pharmacists and sick people.

[vladimir998]

“In the last 5 years opioid deaths have skyrocketed?”

Isn’t that what they’re saying is happening in New England? It’s so bad there that it became a campaign issue this past election! https://www.justbelieverecoverypa.com/drug-overdose-new-england/

Further south, in New Jersey, overdose deaths are up 214% in 6 years: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2016/12/overdose_deaths_skyrocket_in_nj_as_opioid_epidemic_continues_its_boom.html

[iowamark]

In the last 5 years opioid deaths have skyrocketed?

It surprises you that drug use and death skyrocketed during the Obama years? It shouldn't.

[struggle]

Yup.
1: oxycontin is harder to snort, and harder to get.
2: the government is shaking down doctors the prescribe too much painkillers
3: heroin has become VERY cheap compared to a decade ago.

[eddie willers]

Something about this seems like a load of crap.

I'm with you. I think something is up.

[Crucial]

Heroin deaths in my area have skyrocketed.

[Lazamataz]

Something about this seems like a load of crap. In the last 5 years opioid deaths have skyrocketed?

It's true. I stay active in Narcotics Anonymous, there are a lot more opiod deaths. Oxy didn't help, but there's a assload more heroin out there too. Mexico started making it.

[Nifster]

They have. And it is a nationwide occurrence.

[knarf]

I've questioned the entire "heroin" scare for at least a year.

I don't believe we live in such a depressed, suicidal society that people will turn SO en masse, to a drug that has nothing to offer the user except death.

Drugs cost money and people that have no money, have no drugs, and when they DO start to make money, they kind'a LIKE it, so they stick around to keep makin' it.

[grania]

Something about this seems like a load of crap. In the last five years opioid deaths have skyrocketed?

It's real, and horrific. People who were brought up on behavior-altering meds and pain killers easily got involved in the drug culture. It's people who never had to work through emotional, behavioral, or pain issues without a pill. Narcan overall seems to have increased deaths....too many people feel less fear about dying from their addiction. Medical marijuana is being introduced here; I'd be surprised if it helps.....a lot of these people who are dying already use marijuana.

I'll go out on crazy-limb here. We were better off when a cigarette was the coping mechanism.

[nurees]

Yes...in my county and the one next door we are experiencing a huge increase with as many as a couple dozen people each weekend. Its not straigbt heroin or opiods. These are strong combinations. We’ve even had news stories about children ingesting it.

[momincombatboots]

They roll into the morgue with a fentanyl patch in their mouth and wasted veins. It is very real and heroin is back in style. After all.. marijuana isn’t a gateway drug, well unless you look at the experiential evidence. It is truly a daily thing.

[GailA]

It is a load of crap, what is happening is illegal drugs like heroin are being laced with fentanyl and that is why these IDIOTS OD’s are up.

Survey Shows Doctors Shunning Chronic Pain
https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2017/3/14/survey-shows-doctors-shunning-chronic-pain-patients

Deadly New Drug: U-47700 aka U4, Pink or Pinky
https://www.inspiremalibu.com/blog/drug-addiction/deadly-new-drug-u-47700-aka-u4-pink-or-pinky/

Opiates Delivered By Mail From China, Killing Addicts In The U.S.
http://www.npr.org/2017/03/11/519649096/can-china-ban-on-deadly-opioid-save-lives-in-the-u-s

That does not count the mules who bring it across the Mex boarder either. Sentences do not reflect the true crime.
There are also other addictive substances that kill, like alcohol that are not even in the stats of mixing of the two.

Pain Management is a multi-million $$ SCAM. Forcing old sick people in chronic pain to P in a bottle every month to get the pain meds they need for conditions that have NO CURES!

Docs warn that Medicare crackdown will hurt pain patients
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/docs-warn-that-medicare-crackdown-will-hurt-pain-patients-235917

Survey Finds CDC Opioid Guidelines Harming Patients
https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2017/3/13/survey-finds-cdc-opioid-guidelines-harming-patients

Doctors are cutting opioids, even if it harms patients
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/01/02/doctors-curtail-opioids-but-many-see-harm-pain-patients/z4Ci68TePafcD9AcORs04J/story.html

Dr. Tennant. He basically summarized almost everything we have been saying regarding the CDC guidelines. It is very refreshing to read a more balanced view...
https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/treatments/pharmacological/opioids/living-cdc-opioid-guidelines

Opioid Overdose Statistics: As Clear as Mud
https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2016/12/17/opioid-overdose-statistics-as-clear-as-mud?rq=pain%20statistics

How to address the challenges of covering the opioid epidemic
https://www.poynter.org/2017/how-to-address-the-challenges-of-covering-the-opioid-epidemic/451635/

Death Rates from Heroin Use
http://luxury.rehabs.com/heroin-addiction/death-mortality-rates/

CDC: Painkillers Not Driving Spike in Fatal Opioid Overdoses
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/873481

Doctors warn against teen pot use amid looser marijuana laws
http://keyetv.com/news/nation-world/doctors-warn-against-teen-pot-use-amid-looser-marijuana-laws-02-27-2017-185039914

Illegally Manufactured Fentanyl Linked to Rise in Overdoses
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/867986

CDC Issues Opioid Guidelines for ‘Doctor-Driven’ Epidemic
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/860452

Doctors warn against teen pot use amid looser marijuana laws
http://keyetv.com/news/nation-world/doctors-warn-against-teen-pot-use-amid-looser-marijuana-laws-02-27-2017-185039914

NFL abuse of painkillers and other drugs described in court filings
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/nfl-abuse-of-painkillers-and-other-drugs-described-in-court-filings/2017/03/09/be1a71d8-035a-11e7-ad5b-d22680e18d10_story.html?utm_term=.7f370c2c4563

Opioids Killing More Now

Unfortunately, as the supply of painkillers has dropped, many addicts have turned instead to heroin (see chart), which is cheap and plentiful. In 2014 more Americans sought treatment for heroin than for any other drug. In 2015, as total opioid deaths grew by 15%, heroin deaths increased by 23%.

Data released in recent months show that the opioid epidemic is worsening, driven largely by the rise of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid painkiller 50-100 times more powerful than morphine. In 2016 fatal overdoses increased by 26% in Connecticut, 35% in Delaware, and 39% in Maine. During the first three quarters of 2016, deadly overdoses in Maryland jumped by a whopping 62%,
http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2017/03/daily-chart-3
questionable info

Experts sound alarm after 40% increase of fentanyl-laced street drugs tested in Canada
http://globalnews.ca/news/3016218/experts-sound-alarm-after-43-increase-of-fentanyl-laced-street-drugs-tested-in-canada/

[xzins]

Yes. It became drug of choice because it is cheap. Cheap because it is virtually unimpeded.

Now we know what addictive drugs will do on an open market. A lot of people too stupid to say no.

[HangThemHigh]

"In the last 5 years opioid deaths have skyrocketed?"

All the libs that can't deal with Trump's election, don't cha know?

[CodeToad]

“In the last 5 years opioid deaths have skyrocketed?”

Heroine. Mexican sourced and military from overseas sourced. Military bases are having epidemics.

[SisterK]

Yes. Heroin deaths have skyrocketed. My little rural community has been impacted.

[fwdude]

In the last 5 years opioid deaths have skyrocketed?

Kind of tracks with the acceptance and legalization of marijuana, doesn't it?

When the milieu is that some recreational drug us is acceptable, more people will use drugs.

We asked for this.