The Office of National Drug Control Policy released statistics this week reflecting a decline in deaths associated with prescription drugs in 2012; this is the first time in more than a decade that there has been a decrease. Countering this positive trend, however, is a dramatic surge in fatal heroin overdoses. According to the latest figures, heroin fatalities rose 35% to 5,927, while deaths involving chemically similar prescription painkillers such as OxyContin and Vicodin dropped 5% to 16,007. The statistics reflect a switch among addicted individuals from prescription painkillers to heroin, which is cheaper and can be obtained more easily.
Prescription drug deaths quadrupled between 1999 and 2011, mirroring a sharp rise in the number of prescriptions for such drugs dispensed by pharmacies. In 2009, overdoses involving painkillers pushed drug fatalities past traffic accidents as a cause of death. In 2011, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared an epidemic.
In response to overdoses and deaths, almost every state has created a prescription drug monitoring program so physicians can check whether a patient is getting a dangerous narcotic from another physician. Doctors have begun writing fewer prescriptions for some of the most popular painkillers, according to data compiled by information services and technology company IMS Health.
This year, CDC researchers reported the first sign that such efforts may be paying off. In Florida, deaths involving narcotic painkillers have dropped by 26% in the wake of a statewide crackdown on so-called pill mills that cater to addicted people and drug dealers. The latest rise in heroin deaths may be a sign that efforts to tighten up the supply of prescription painkillers are causing users to turn to the illegal narcotic. Read the latest findings from the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
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