The American people are fighting a lot of wars. Gender and race equality, terrorism, and gun abuse are just a few issues that America has to face every day. There's also another war that the country has yet to win.
It is the war against drugs.
A report from NBC news state that based on new statistics, the overdoses related to drugs rose last year. This is brought about by surges in deaths linked to the use of heroin and prescription painkillers.
It increased up to 7 percent from the previous year. The mortality rate exceeded 47,000 because of ODs.
Strong opioid painkillers contribute to many of the reported deaths. These have been the principal culprit of the deadly overdoses. Though the numbers had been stable now, it is still not something to rejoice about.
The death toll was approximately 19,000. This is an obvious increase of about 16 percent. Alarmingly, the heroin deaths seem to increase by 28 percent and for a total of 10,500. These numbers were posted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The statistics were based on the death certificates.
The CDC Director, Dr. Tom Frieden reported that the federal institution is trying to examine the numbers to identify the causes of previous year's increase. He adds that the country's battle with drugs is not on its best condition.
The government has been promoting campaigns to reduce the deaths. They are giving more attention especially to Opioid pain relievers. This includes OxyContin and Vicodin.
CDC is looking into creating new guidelines for doctors. This is to lead the medical practitioners into a more cautious way of prescribing these drugs.
The officials noted that some of the painkiller deaths may be caused by fentanyl. This is an illegal drug which is morphine's synthetic version. Frieden said that there are medical examiners that categorize fentanyl deaths in the prescription painkillers.
