CDC Report: U.S. Opioids Abuse Is on the Rise, Medical Treatments in Decline

The new CDC Report: U.S. opioids abuse is on the rise, medical treatments in decline although many efforts are being made to cut down drug abuse. Statistics have revealed that very few people have access to methadone-based medical treatments, which is why few patients give up self-destructive habits.

• CDC statistics on opioid abuse and drug-related deaths
• CDC’s recent study on U.S. opioids abuse
• CDC’s solutions to prevent drug abuse

For the current study, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention observed the evolution of 6,770 individuals during two distinct periods, from 2004 to 2008 and from 2009 to 2013. Participants were chosen based on their connection to opioids, more specifically, individuals have confessed that they regularly abused opioids or that the abuse has caused them certain financial, personal or legal problems.

By comparing the two periods, researchers have reached the conclusion that there have been many drug-related deaths during the studied period between 2002 and 2013. Statistics indicate that approximately 8,200 people died because of heroin abuse. Surprisingly, the percentage of deaths caused by prescription misuse has also doubled in this period of time.

Medical experts have further looked at the medical treatments that drug abusers have followed. They have discovered that 20 percent people followed drug-related treatments during the two periods. Unfortunately, the percentage of addictive patients increased from 24% in the first time interval to 35% in the second period.

Investigators did not manage to find an explanation for this unexpected surge. They, nevertheless, suspect that most patients have switched from pain killers to heroin during these two time frames because the second variant is cheaper.

Although patients’ preference for heroin and opioids has increased in the past decade, medical experts have made numerous efforts to reduce their consumption among patients. Statistics show that inpatient treatments have increased from 37.5 percent to 52 percent in the studied period of time.

The same pattern was observed among patients, who received treatment in medical offices. Their percentage has grown from 25 percent to 35 percent from 2002 to 2013, investigators have added.

It goes without saying that the current medical treatments that heroin-addicted patient follow fail to provide the necessary care for them. Medical experts think the blame is to be placed on patients’ inability to get methadone and buprenorphine – the two medical substituents for heroin.

CDC advises people to stop putting stigma on heroin addicts because they further prevent people from getting the medical help they need. Investigators think people could gain more access to medical substituents and medical treatments if they were encouraged to do so.

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