[Pharmwaste] Overdose deaths lower, 1st x in 30 years

Thu Jul 18 20:18:45 EDT 2019

One year does not equal a declining trend, Mr. AA. Any decline is a cause for celebration, but I'm betting some of it is due to increased availability and use of naloxone/narcan. The additional funding has been available for about a year and most states haven't entirely ramped up program expansion to use it.

I am also amazed and impressed with MN's (and probably other states as well) ability to respond quickly to multiple deaths in a localized area. They tell me that when people are dying, users will help them find the source, and even if it is in an entirely different area of the state, the network they have established can find sources of bad batches in hours vs. days. This did not used to be the case.

We're improving on the response end of the equation, so that's good. I'm sure the influx of money will have a positive impact on prevention/intervention, so that's good too.

I know that officials here in MN are really concerned about the significant resurgence of meth. I asked, honestly, whether it could be that people switch from depressants to stimulants after a while. I was told that it was not uncommon for drug abuse to be cyclical. It seems this is mainly due to ramping up education, awareness and applying resources to one drug class, and then use/abuse creeps back in another area. It's been 20 years since meth became an epidemic.

From: Pharmwaste <pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us> On Behalf Of Ed Gottlieb
Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2019 7:28 AM
To: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: [Pharmwaste] Overdose deaths lower, 1st x in 30 years

>From "STAT: Morning Rounds"

Overdose deaths fall for the first time in three decades

New preliminary statistics from the CDC show that deaths from drug overdoses likely fell last year for the first time in three decades. Some 68,000 people died in 2018, and although that number may go up, officials don't expect it to exceed 2017's total of more than 70,000. Still, the overdose rate is about seven times higher than it was a generation ago. "While the declining trend of overdose deaths is an encouraging sign, by no means have we declared victory against the epidemic or addiction in general," HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement<https://gcc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatnews.us11.list-manage.com%2Ftrack%2Fclick%3Fu%3Df8609630ae206654824f897b6%26id%3De314cbda49%26e%3D61b58803fc&data=02%7C01%7Cjennifer.volkman%40state.mn.us%7C94074aaa3eb948fb6f6b08d70b7b7842%7Ceb14b04624c445198f26b89c2159828c%7C0%7C0%7C636990497233160667&sdata=g8o1cQnBUdRhYxNyEd%2BGLB%2Ft%2FYqK0MVyNWc7YtYJSl0%3D&reserved=0>*. The current drop is due to fewer deaths from heroin and prescription painkillers, but deaths from fentanyl and cocaine are still increasing.

* https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2019/07/17/secretary-azar-statement-on-2018-provisional-drug-overdose-death-data.html?utm_source=STAT+Newsletters&utm_campaign=b127003c0d-MR_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8cab1d7961-b127003c0d-149620549<https://gcc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hhs.gov%2Fabout%2Fnews%2F2019%2F07%2F17%2Fsecretary-azar-statement-on-2018-provisional-drug-overdose-death-data.html%3Futm_source%3DSTAT%2BNewsletters%26utm_campaign%3Db127003c0d-MR_COPY_01%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_term%3D0_8cab1d7961-b127003c0d-149620549&data=02%7C01%7Cjennifer.volkman%40state.mn.us%7C94074aaa3eb948fb6f6b08d70b7b7842%7Ceb14b04624c445198f26b89c2159828c%7C0%7C0%7C636990497233160667&sdata=fyE9Ykbj8L8JDj7sU7l99F7JXSA24n338N8rXbGBV4I%3D&reserved=0>

Ed Gottlieb
Chair, Tompkins County Coalition for Safe Medication Disposal
Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator
Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility
525 3rd Street
Ithaca, NY  14850
(607) 273-8381<tel:(607)%20273-8381>

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