{"id":12372,"date":"2017-06-29T13:12:08","date_gmt":"2017-06-29T20:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/?p=12372"},"modified":"2017-12-29T20:02:16","modified_gmt":"2017-12-30T04:02:16","slug":"opioids-could-kill-nearly-500000-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/healthcare\/recovery-co-lab\/recovery-co-lab-blogs\/pwi-co-lab-staff\/opioids-could-kill-nearly-500000-americans\/","title":{"rendered":"STAT Forecast: Opioids Could KILL Nearly 500,000 Americans in the Next Decade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opening Insights<\/h2>\n

Opioids could kill nearly half a million people across America over the next decade as the crisis of addiction and overdose accelerates.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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There are now nearly 100 deaths a day from opioids, a swath of destruction that runs from tony New England suburbs to the farm country of California, from the beach towns of Florida to the Appalachian foothills.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Pocket Wisdom Insights (PWI) invites you to explore the following Co-Lab Blog<\/strong>.
\nThis blog features parts of an influential and insightful\u00a0article featured outside of the PWI\u00a0Co-Lab<\/strong>
\nby Max Blau<\/strong> June 27, 2017, published by Statnews.com<\/strong>.
\nWe have republished this content in respect of the author\u2019s vision, message and research.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Informational Insights<\/h2>\n

In the worst-case scenario put forth by STAT\u2019s expert panel, that toll could spike to 250 deaths a day, if potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl and carfentanil continue to spread rapidly and the waits for treatment continue to stretch weeks in hard-hit states like West Virginia and New Hampshire.<\/p>\n

If that prediction proves accurate, the death toll over the next decade could top 650,000. That\u2019s almost as many Americans as will die from breast cancer and prostate cancer during that time period.\u00a0Put another way, opioids could kill nearly as many Americans in a decade as HIV\/AIDS has killed since that epidemic began in the early 1980s. The deep cuts to Medicaid now being debated in Congress could add to the desperation by leaving millions<\/a>1<\/sup> of low-income adults without insurance, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even the more middle-of-the-road forecasts suggest that by 2027, the\u00a0annual U.S. death toll from opioids alone will likely surpass the worst year of gun deaths on record, and may top the worst year of AIDS deaths at the peak of that epidemic in the 1990s, when nearly 50,000 people were dying each year. The average toll across all 10 forecasts: nearly 500,000 deaths over the next decade.<\/p>\n

Beyond the immeasurable pain to families, the overdoses will cost the U.S. economy hundreds of billions of dollars.<\/p>\n

[..]<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took us about 30 years to get into this mess,\u201d Robert Valuck, professor at the University of Colorado-Denver\u2019s School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, told STAT. \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to get out of it in two or three.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deaths from opioids have been rising sharply for years, and drug overdoses already kill more Americans under age 50 than anything else. STAT asked leading public health experts at 10 universities to forecast the arc of the epidemic over the next decade. The consensus: It will get worse before it gets better.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/article>\n<\/section>\n

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Source:\u00a0https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2017\/06\/27\/opioid-deaths-forecast\/\u00a0<\/article>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
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Possibilities for Consideration<\/h2>\n

Take a moment and examine\u2026<\/h3>\n