What Bush & Obama Have Wrought: Overdoses at “Epidemic Proportions”

In its just-released 2015 Drug Threat Assessment, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reveals the terrifying extent of the drug epidemic in the United States, with the startling statistic that drug overdoses now constitute the leading cause of injury deaths, surpassing those from auto accidents or firearms. In 2013, the latest year for which data is available, more than 46,000 people died from a drug overdose and more than half of those were caused by prescription painkillers and heroin.

In its press release announcing the release of its annual report, the DEA referenced a recent survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) which shows that between 2013-2014, the number of current heroin users—defined as individuals who reported using heroin within the previous 30 days—increased by 51%!

At a press conference in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg said that overdose deaths from abuse of analgesic prescription drugs “have reached epidemic proportions,” exceeding those caused by cocaine and heroin combined; and abuse of controlled prescription drugs is higher than that of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, MDMA (“Molly”) and PCP combined.

While the DEA report didn’t identify the specific age cohorts victimized by the drug epidemic, the National Institute of Drug Abuse reports that young adults, aged 18-25, are the biggest abusers of prescription opioid pain relievers, ADHD stimulants (Ritalin, Adderal), and anti-anxiety drugs. In 2010, 3,000 people in this age group died of prescription drug overdose; 13% of all 18-25 year-olds engaged in non-medical use of prescription drugs the same year. The figure was 7% for 12-17 year-olds, and 4% for people age 26 or older.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), between 2000 and 2013, the rate for heroin-related drug-poisoning deaths was highest among adults aged 25-44. Between 2010 and 2013, the death rate for adults aged 18-24 increased 2.3-fold, from 1.7 to 3.9 per 100,000. In 2000, non-Hispanic blacks, aged 45-64, had the highest rate for drug-poisoning deaths involving heroin. But in 2013, non-Hispanic whites, aged 18-44, had the highest rate.

Between 2000 and 2013, the rate for drug-poisoning deaths involving heroin increased in all regions of the country, but the greatest increase occurred in the Midwest. On Nov. 1, CBS’s Sixty Minutes program ran a segment on “Heroin in the Heartland,” detailing how heroin is ravaging the state of Ohio, without discrimination as to race or income bracket. State Attorney General, former Republican Sen. Mike DeWine, reported, “In my lifetime, I’ve never seen anything like it.”