WHY OUR CENTER TREATS METHADONE ADDICTION
Opioids have actually been abused for a long period of time. Opiate usage escalated in the early 1980s, when Big Pharma pushed for the treatment of pain without recognizing their abuse potential. At that time, health companies and healthcare facilities pushed for discomfort control by distributing sketches of facial grimaces depicting discomfort scales to deal with discomfort accordingly.
The end outcome was more composed prescriptions. That led to the current opioid epidemic; according to the Center For Disease Control, medical facilities in the United States see approximately 1,000 clients a day for abuse of prescription opiates (such as methadone, oxycodone and hydrocodone).
Just how much has the death rate increased? Because 1990, more than 200,000 deaths have been attributed to an overdoses from prescription opioids-- at a rate of almost 50 deaths daily.
Recently, awareness by doctors of the present opioid epidemic crisis has actually moved the pendulum to the other side, resulting in less prescriptions composed for painkillers. This has led the patient to seek street heroin. Heroin use has increased with changing of the composition of some of the prescription painkillers. Also, the use of heroin has actually increased with the increasing cost of hard-to-get prescription pain relievers. With intravenous heroin usage, the rate of overdose death increased. In the last few years overdose death from heroin has jumped because of lacing heroin with fentanyl-- a surgical anesthetic opiate which is 50 times more powerful than heroin.
There have to do with 180 deaths daily from opioid overdose in the USA, going beyond Recommended Reading all other reasons for mortality. This number is expected to increase even greater.
Here are some stats of the opioid crisis:
Overdose is the leading cause of unexpected death in USA.
In 2015: There were 52,000 deadly cases-- including 20,000 due to prescription painkiller overdose deaths and 13,000 deadly heroin overdoses.
In 2015: There were 21 million compound use condition cases. 2 million cases associated to prescription drugs and 600,000 related to heroin.
From 1999-2008: The increase in deaths from prescription pain relievers and sales of such tablets quadrupled. Admissions to health centers due to overdose increased sixfold.
In 2012: There were 259 million prescriptions written for painkiller medications, which would cover one prescription for each American adult.
In 2014: 94% of users picked heroin over prescription medications due to the fact that pills were more pricey and more difficult to get.
Among heroin users, 23% establish opioid addiction.
These facts and data are worrisome because of the rising deaths affecting so many households. It should be an obligation and top concern for health care professionals (particularly addiction specialists) to assist deal with these dependent clients to prevent more overdoses and deaths.