OD’ing propels rise in death rates of young whites
By Gina Kolata and Sarah Cohen, New York Times
Drug overdoses are driving up the death rate of young white adults in the United States to levels not seen since the end of the AIDS epidemic more than two decades ago — a turn of fortune that stands in sharp contrast to falling death rates for young blacks, a New York Times analysis of death certificates has found.
The rising death rates for those young white adults, ages 25 to 34, make them the first generation since the Vietnam War years of the mid-1960s to experience higher death rates in early adulthood than the generation that preceded it.
The Times analyzed nearly 60 million death certificates collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1990 to 2014. It found death rates for non-Hispanic whites either rising or flattening for all the adult age groups under 65 — a trend that was particularly pronounced in women — even as medical advances sharply reduce deaths from traditional killers like heart disease. Death rates for blacks and most Hispanic groups continued to fall.
Just one thing, the current problem is heroin. Which comes mostly from Afghanistan. Heroin production has increased while we have been engaged militarily in Afghanistan. How could that be possible? Someone is making a lot of money.
The vast majority of heroin tested in the US appears to be produced in either Mexico or Colombia from regional crops; and a substantial number of users arrive sweating and cramping at heroin’s black tar beggars gate after first getting abandoned in the prescription drug painkiller swamp. Wonder of wonders…how could that be? I don’t hear any of the friendly and knowledgeable sounding reasonably voiced ubiquitous prescription drug ads on prime-time television exhorting me to ask my doctor about THAT!
Interesting. Do you have any links about S. American heroin production?
Hmmm… I was referring to Afghanistan’s increase in production on the world supply (despite war). You are of course correct about Mexico and South America, especially concerning the pain medication epidemic. Here is a link to information about world supply of heroin (https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/global-heroin-market). Sad that apparently our own corporations are doing all they can to create customers for our enemies profit. It is almost like they are in business together…
Mike. Most of the Afghan opium goes to China, Russia and Europe. South America has been the largest supplier in North America since the mid ’80’s; Mexico is second.
Fortunately, only 1.5% (3.8 million) of Americans have used/tried heroin. For comparison cigarette use in America is about 70 million.
As the article mentioned, people start with OxyContin for pain and end up on Heroin. Medical professionals need to do a better job of pain relief, management and monitoring for abuse.