Drug Overdose

Our country is currently facing many problems, both international and domestic. The headlines are all about this year’s wild presidential campaign, reports on police abusing their power, terrorist attacks, international relationships, and so on. Yes, these are indeed problems that our country faces, and they are affecting our people, but there is another problem that we face -- drug overdose. It may not seem like such a big deal, but in reality, it impacts us far more than one would expect.

The number of deaths due to drug overdose have been rising year by year. Since 2000, the deaths involving drug overdose have increased by 137%, which includes a 200% rise in the rate of overdose deaths involving opioids, whether it’s heroin or painkillers. Starting from 2000, the age-adjusted death rate due to drug overdose has more than doubled. In the year 2000, there was a death rate of 6.2 people per 100,000 due to drug overdose. By 2014, the death toll rose to 14.7 per 100,000 persons. 61% of those deaths involved opioids of some sort, including heroin. There was a 14% increase in death toll from 2013 to 2014, and Heroin overdose death rates went up by 26% in those two years.
digital art by Selena Yao

A major factor of drug overdose is the over consumption of opioids, including prescription and over-the-counter drugs. An opioid is an opium-like compound, commonly used as pain relievers. Opioids can come in many forms, including heroin, methadone, and many prescription drugs. Natural and semisynthetic opioids, which include the most commonly prescribed painkillers (oxycodone and hydrocodone), are involved in more overdose deaths than any other opioid type. In 2014, there was a 9% increase in deaths due to these opioid types compared to the previous year.

There were about 17,000 prescription drug overdose deaths in 2010, almost double the number of similar deaths in 2001! People nowadays are relying too much on prescription and over-the-counter drugs to reduce fevers and relieve pain. Excess consumption can lead to addiction, the slowing down of breathing, comas, and even death.

Once people start relying on these drugs, they become addicted to them, just like being addicted to heroin. Like any other drug, after people become addicted, they can’t pull away from it. Almost all heroin addicts start with painkillers and prescription drugs. Those people become addicted to the point where they’d do anything to get their hands on the drugs. There are people who would hurt themselves on purpose or sell almost everything that they owned to get the drugs.

In addition to that, the bacteria and viruses that cause deadly diseases evolve, too -- they become used to the prescription drug, and learn how to cope with it. That is how so-called “superbugs” develop. The new and improved bacteria and viruses are now immune to the medicine.

Another more unfortunate cause of drug overdose is the overdiagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a problem found particularly in the United States, which has a 11% diagnosis rate compared to approximately 5% in other places like Brazil, China, and Europe. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that there was an increase in the prevalence of ADHD, from 6.9% in 1997 to 9.5% in 2007. Nowadays, errors are common when diagnoses of ADHD are made. In many cases, people, especially schoolchildren, are diagnosed with ADHD when they actually don’t have it. In other cases, people are diagnosed with ADHD when they actually have other problems.

This bit seems unrelated to drug overdose, but surprisingly, it does relate. Once a child is diagnosed with ADHD, they start taking prescription drugs to help them focus. This is particularly unfortunate for those who were diagnosed with a false positive for ADHD, which leads to taking prescription drugs that are actually not needed. These drugs can help a child focus, but they can also lead to addiction. A drug cannot make a child focus for eternity, leading to children taking multiple doses of drugs. These children may not even have ADHD.

There may be other darker reasons, such as those to do with drug company marketing. According to the New York Times online health article, “The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder” by Alan Schwarz, drug companies have exaggerated the image of ADHD. They make normal behaviors such as impatience and carelessness, seem like side effect of ADHD, and have amplified the potential benefits of the pills.

Drug overdose and ADHD overdiagnosis are not problems to be ignored. Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental deaths in the United States, even more than car accidents. This problem won’t be easy to solve, since many of these accidents depend on the choices the people make, but we can raise an awareness. Doctors can more carefully research and diagnose patients to prevent false diagnoses. Parents and teachers alike can learn to accept kids for what they are, instead of suspecting them of having ADHD when they actually don’t.
Furthermore, parents and doctors of children that do have ADHD can be more cautious in prescribing drugs. For instance, Michael Phelps, the all-star Olympic swimmer who has won 28 gold medals, has ADHD. Well, he turned out fine, didn’t he?

A lot of times, prescription and over-the-counter drugs are taken too often, when your immune system could actually fight off the germs. Next time when you get the flu, don’t reach for the medication -- get lots of rest, eat healthy foods, and let your immune system fight the germs off by itself. Your immune system will become stronger as well. Don’t take those extra pills -- unless you really need them.