New Hampshire, Ohio, and West Virginia experiencing the highest drug overdose death rates

“Death rates for overdoses involving highly potent synthetic opioids other than methadone -- including illicitly manufactured fentanyl as well as the prescription kind -- more than doubled from 2015 to 2016, propelling an overall increase in opioid deaths of 27.9% in that one-year period, according to the CDC.

Synthetic opioids were present in 19,413 overdose deaths in 2016, up from 9,580 deaths in 2015, reported Puja Seth, PhD, of the CDC in Atlanta and colleagues in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. They accounted for 30.5% of all drug overdose deaths and 45.9% of all opioid-involved deaths in 2016.”  Summary from Medpage Today. https://www.medpagetoday.com/neurology/opioids/72068

https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/fentanyl

At least in Ohio, where we often hear evening news reports on the problems of drug abuse in the suburbs, there needs to be a new approach and for researchers to do something other than looking at poverty, lack of education, various political disparities, and ghetto or rural life styles.  Researchers have pathologized certain races, neighborhoods and income groups for so long, they’ve lost their way or just have no new ideas to meet this crisis.

Here’s an example from NIDA: “Opioid addiction is often described as an “equal opportunity” problem that can afflict people from all races and walks of life, but while true enough, this obscures the fact that the opioid crisis has particularly affected some of the poorest regions of the country, such as Appalachia, and that people living in poverty are especially at risk for addiction and its consequences like overdose or spread of HIV. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers people on Medicaid and other people with low-income to be at high risk for prescription drug overdose.”  That may be true—but that doesn’t answer what’s happening in Worthington and Upper Arlington.

Read the comments to this NIDA explanation. It’s worth your time.

This Columbus area rehab center has an interesting blog. https://www.columbusrecoverycenter.com/2018/03/