Óbitos Por Tarjas Pretas São Mais Que Overdose De Cocaína E Heroína Combinados

[Canadense]

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/8/29/painkiller-kill-morepeoplethanmarijuanause.html

Painkiller addictions worst drug epidemic in US history

Fatal overdoses have reached epidemic levels,
exceeding those from heroin and cocaine combined, according to the CDC

Prescriptions for painkillers in the United
States have nearly tripled in the past two decades and fatal overdoses
reached epidemic levels, exceeding those from heroin and cocaine
combined, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC).

At the same time, the first-ever global analysis of illicit drug
abuse published this month by The
Lancet, a British medical journal, found that addictions to heroin
and popular painkillers, including Vicodin and OxyContin, kill the most
people and cause the greatest health burden, compared to illicit drugs
such as marijuana
and cocaine.

High-income nations, such as the United States, United Kingdom and
Australia, had the highest rates of abuse, 20 times greater than in the
least impacted countries, according to The Lancet study.

In the United States, enough painkillers were prescribed in 2010 to
medicate every American adult around-the-clock for one month.

Dr. Andrew Kolodny, president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid
Prescribing, told Al Jazeera that the United States is facing a
dangerous epidemic of overdoses and addictions related to painkillers.
"According to the CDC, this is the worst drug epidemic in U.S. history,"
he said. "CDC has data demonstrating that around the same time doctors
began aggressively prescribing these medications in the late 1990s,
there have been parallel increases in rates of addiction."

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Kolodny said, is "failing
miserably" at curbing the epidemic.

"The way to turn this epidemic around is for doctors to prescribe
painkillers more cautiously," he said. But that can only happen, Kolodny
said, when the FDA changes labeling requirements for painkillers,
"making it easier for medical schools and the larger medical community
to prescribe these meds more cautiously." He called current FDA-approved
labeling "very broad," because the drugs have no suggested maximum dose
nor suggested duration of use.

Kolodny is part of a group of health officials who signed a citizens'
petition (PDF) in 2012 urging the FDA to change labeling
requirements on how and when doctors should prescribe painkillers. The
group called on the FDA to limit the drugs' approved use to those
suffering from "severe" pain, as opposed to the current FDA-approved
standard of "moderate to severe pain."

FDA spokeswoman Morgan Liscinsky, however, said that prescription
painkillers are an important component of modern pain management. The
FDA, she said, is working to balance the dual responsibility of
addressing misuse, abuse and addiction with continuing to ensure
appropriate access to effective pain management for patients who need
these medications.

The FDA "is extremely concerned about the inappropriate use" of
painkillers, she said, "which has become a major public health challenge
for our nation," and the agency "is committed to ongoing efforts to
address the problem and supports broader initiatives to address this
public health problem, including regulatory, educational and scientific
activities."

But according to Kolodny, the notion that there are two different
groups of people using painkillers, those who need it and those who
abuse it, is a false dichotomy. "The bulk of these prescriptions are
unnecessary and can lead to addiction," he said. "Painkillers in many
cases are actually ineffective in treating long-term pain."

Sen. Richard Segerblom (D-Nev.), a longtime backer of efforts to curb
prescription drug abuse, told Al Jazeera that the over-prescribing of
painkillers is the equivalent of "legalized heroin." One of the dangers
of physicians recklessly prescribing painkillers, he said, is that once
patients are taken off the painkiller, some of them turn to heroin, a
cheaper alternative with similar effects.

Nevada had the third-highest rate of prescription drug overdose
deaths in 2008, according to a 2013 CDC report. The same report found
that in 2010, the state was tied for second among states in the amount
of prescription painkillers sold per 10,000 people.

Segerblom was behind a controversial bill introduced in February that
would have allowed patients addicted to painkillers to sue their
doctors and the drug-maker for the cost of rehabilitation programs.
"Reckless doctors and drug-makers should pay the consequences for
dangerous over-prescribing," he said.

Although the bill failed to pass, Segerblom said that the attempt
garnered "a lot of publicity" and helped to raise awareness.

A global problem

The study published in The
Lancet examined four categories of illegal drugs – opioids (which
include painkillers and heroin), cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis.



Worldwide, of the estimated 78,000 deaths in 2010 stemming from illicit
drug use, more than half were due to opioid addictions. More than two
thirds of addicts were male and rates of abuse were highest in men aged
20 to 29 years.

The United States in particular consumes 80 percent of the world's
supply of painkillers, according to 2011 congressional testimony from the American
Society of Interventional Pain Physicians.

A Los Angeles Times article in August revealed that the maker of
OxyContin, Purdue Pharma LP, had been compiling a database for the past
decade of some 1,800 doctors suspected of recklessly prescribing the
painkiller. Shortly after the article was published, Sen. Segerblom
asked the Connecticut-based company to turn over information on Nevada
doctors suspected of over-prescribing the painkiller, information that
would be used by the state medical board in any potential investigation.

Representatives from the company met with state health officials Aug.
29 and supplied the names of 29 doctors, according to Segerblom.

"The epidemic is getting worse and it's not going away anytime soon. I
think the states are working hard at finding solutions and we'll keep
pushing for them."

Al Jazeera

[matsegredo]

O homem matando o proprio homem... tipico ;/

[Malagueta1]

sociedade medicalizada e louca dá é nisso. se entopem de remédio pra cabeça e a cada dia vendem mais e as pessoas piores. O óleo de ganja a partir de 1% de CBD resolve grande parte desses casos "de cabeça" onde a sociedade medicalizada querem é VENDER drogas para os outros. Bem vindos à ganância da modernidade.

[ntfsmount]

huahuauahuahuhauhauhauha

temos como aliados entao o al jazeera.. hehehe, ja serve

[mmonteiro]

o sistema serve apenas para manter a reserva de mercado das farmacêuticas...

esqueceram de mencionar o número de mortes causadas por maconha