As the opioid epidemic continues to ravage the United States, new data shows heroin has become a major driver in overdoses. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 25 percent of overdoses in the United States in 2015 involved heroin — more than triple the percentage in 2010.
“Starting in 2011, overdoses involving heroin has really skyrocketed,” Dr. Andrew Kolodny, co-director of Brandeis University’s Opioid Policy Research Center, told CNN.
Heroin, an opioid made from morphine, has been associated with many cases of addiction, overdose and death in recent years.
In 2016, police and emergency medical technicians in Cincinnati responded to 174 cases of heroin overdoses over the span of six days. Similar spikes in heroin overdoses occurred in Florida, New Jersey and Indiana that year.
The CDC report found that fatal overdoses involving synthetic opioids other than methadone, such as fentanyl and tramadol, increased from 8 percent in 2010 to 18 percent in 2015. Manufactured in laboratories, synthetic opioids have a chemical structure similar to opiates naturally found in the opium plant.
The percentage of drug overdose deaths involving cocaine and those involving psychostimulants with abuse potential, such as methamphetamine, also increased from 2010 to 2015.
However, the CDC report presented some good news.
Overdose deaths associated with methadone decreased from 12 percent of all fatal drug overdoses in 2010 to 6 percent in 2015. Also, fatal overdoses involving natural or semisynthetic opioid analgesics, such as oxycodone, decreased from 29 percent in 2010 to 24 percent in 2015.
Nationwide Increases in Drug Overdose Deaths
Overall, the age-adjusted rate of drug overdoses in the United States was more than 2.5 times higher in 2015 than it was in 1999, according to the CDC report. While overdose death rates increased among all age groups from 1999 to 2015, certain demographics were hit harder than others.
Those aged 55 to 64 experienced the greatest percentage increase in overdose death rates during this time.
Since 2005, people aged 45 to 54 have had the highest rate of drug overdose deaths. Conversely, adults aged 65 and older had the lowest overdose death rate among all age groups, followed by those aged 15 to 24.
Both sexes saw increases in drug overdose death rates from 1999 to 2015. In 2015, men experienced 20.8 fatal overdoses per 100,000 people, while women had 11.8 overdose deaths per 100,000 people. The rate among women increased an average of 11 percent per year from 1999 to 2006.
Rates varied among races and ethnicities, too. Non-Hispanic whites experienced the highest age-adjusted drug overdose death rate in 2015. Non-Hispanic blacks had the next highest age-adjusted rate, followed by Hispanics.
Which States Are Most Affected by Drug Overdose?
In the past year, an outbreak of drug overdose deaths has rocked several Appalachian states. The CDC report further detailed this problem.
In 2015, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Kentucky and Ohio had the highest age-adjusted drug overdose death rates in the country. Maryland, Pennsylvania and Tennessee also had rates higher than the national average.
Illinois, New York and Virginia had fatal drug overdose rates lower than the national average, while Florida, South Carolina and Colorado had rates on par with the national average.
Combating the Opioid Epidemic
State and federal governments have passed laws to reduce opioid abuse in the United States.
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in 2016 signed into law a comprehensive package of bills designed to reduce opioid abuse in the state.
The legislation:
- Limits opioid prescriptions to no more than a seven-day supply in an effort to reduce unnecessary access to such drugs
- Requires mandatory prescriber education on pain management
- Increases access to the life-saving overdose reversal medication naloxone
- Eliminates insurance barriers to treatment
- Expands support services for New Yorkers in recovery
- Adds 270 new treatment beds
- Adds 2,335 opioid treatment program slots
“New York is leading the way forward in the fight against opioid and heroin addiction, and with this legislation, we are taking an affirmative stand for our families and communities who have suffered from this epidemic’s debilitating effects,” Cuomo said in a statement.
In 2017, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill that limits the length of initial painkiller prescriptions to five days. The law also requires insurance companies to accept people with substance use disorders into treatment without delay.
During the signing, Christie said the law is the toughest in the country in combatting the opioid epidemic.
In December 2016, former President Barack Obama signed into law the 21st Century Cures Act, a bipartisan law intended to fight opioid abuse. The legislation allocates $1 billion in grants to help states deal with opioid addiction.
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