Page 9 - Addiction and Overdose: Confronting an American Crisis

DEATHS FROM DRUG OVERDOSING

DEATHS FROM DRUG OVERDOSING

60,000

50,000 47,055 52,404
Number of deaths 30,000 29,813 36,450 41,340
40,000

20,000
16,849 23,518
10,000
0
1999 2002 2005 2008 2011 2014 2015
Year
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Deaths from drug overdoses in the United States more than tripled from 1999 to 2015.
Americans overdose on opioids, over-the-counter drugs, stimulants, and sedatives.

killed nearly thirteen thousand people in 2015. Yet that same year about
twenty-two thousand people died from overdoses of legal prescription
painkillers (such as OxyContin and Vicodin) and illegally obtained or
manufactured narcotics. Fatal overdoses from sedatives such as Valium,
Ativan, and Xanax, prescribed for anxiety and insomnia, are on the
increase as well, more than quadrupling since 2002.
These are the drugs most commonly involved in overdoses:

• Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs such as antihistamines and
cough syrups. Even acetaminophen (a common ingredient in
OTC pain relievers) can be deadly. In fact, acetaminophen is the
most common cause of sudden liver failure in the United States.
• Heroin is an illegal and highly addictive drug that causes
thousands of overdose deaths every year. Heroin is classified as
a natural opiate and is derived from the opium poppy, which is
widely grown in parts of Asia and the Middle East. Farmers cut

Addiction and Overdose in AmericA 9