Opioid Drug Overdose Deaths Now Higher Than Breast Cancer In The U.S.A

By Paul A. Philips

A recent disturbing report by the NCHS (National Center for Health Statistics) a division of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) revealed that 63,000 drug overdose deaths occurred in 2016 in the U.S.A. That’s 3 times higher than what it was in 2009.

Out of those 63,000 deaths 42,249 were attributed to opioid drug overdose. To get some idea on the gravity of the situation, in 2016 that made the 42,249 opioid drug overdose deaths over a 1,000 more than the number of American women who died of breast cancer.

The highly addictive, potentially fatal opioid painkiller drug family includes, for example, the illicit drugs fentanyl, tramadol and heroin; also the legally prescribed medicines hydrocodone and oxycodone. NCHS spokesman Robert Anderson said in so many words that the fatality rates for the opioid epidemic are still rising as indicated by recent provisional data. They have for exceeded the total number of deaths from the Vietnam War.  

As the rate continues to skyrocket, excluding methadone, synthetic opioid fatal overdoses have risen dramatically, averaging out at an increase of 88% for each year from 2013 to 2017. Fatal overdoses through prescription opioid painkillers increased by 13% for each year between the years 1999 – 2009. However, the rate has slowed down over recent years to an annual increase of 3%. Deaths through heroin overdose continue to rise by an average of 19% for every year since 2014.

Drug overdose has in fact become the leading cause of death for under 50-year-olds. Opioids, particularly synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and tramadol are the deadliest drivers of fatal overdose in this age group.

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Trump and government criticism

Following President Trump’s public health emergency declaration on the opioid crisis in October 2017, a committee was then set up to deal with the drug addiction problem: The Commission on Combating Drug Addiction committee issued its last report containing 50 recommendations.

While the report offers a number of positive steps such as recommending an education programme on drug addiction, more professional healthcare for addicts, electronic coordination of health records and increased law courts… Trump and his government’s actions following the committee’s recommendations on dealing with the addiction epidemic have been met with much disappointment and criticism.

A number of public health professionals criticized Trump and the commission over the absence of funds. One of the commission’s members, one-time Rep. Patrick Kennedy, made the remark that “It means nothing if it has no funding to push it forward. You can’t just have a speech like the President gave.”

Then the government has no answer to the rising number of Americans not having medical insurance, which is predicted to rise to 13 million by 2027 against the backdrop of increasing premiums for those who are insured. Nearly a third of American addicts will not even consider seeking profession help because they don’t have insurance.

Big Pharma and Big Government – the deadliest drug pushers of them all

Sure, more could be done to end the rising opioid drug overdose deaths. But the numbers will persist as long as the root cause of the problem is not dealt with, which is the fact that Big Pharma is in collusion with Big Government.

A number of documented case scenarios have served as testimony to the collusion, exposing Big Pharma’s drug pushing criminal activities. The case scenarios have recurring patterns, which basically go like this:

Big Pharma warehouses turn a blind eye to supplying obviously suspiciously high numbers of opioid painkiller drugs to corner-shop pharmacies (or physicians). The pharmacies supply these drugs to drug dealer rings. The black market drugs are then sold to consumers leading to much misery, suffering and death in their communities through an addiction epidemic.

The DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) having covertly watched over the activity for some time then steps in and busts the operation. However, the Big Pharma supplier gets off with only a relatively small fine. Distribution rights are not permanently revoked, nor are there criminal charges. Without revocation or deterrent Big Pharma carry’s on with their egregious acts, raking in mega-profits on supplying opioid painkiller drug sales which makes huge revenues for Big Government. How can any government claim that they really care about your health when this is allowed to happen?

A classic example of the above scenario is in the recent case of Perdue Pharmaceuticals, a division of the Sackler group. The City of Everett in Washington is suing Purdue Pharmaceuticals for supplying their opioid drug OxyContin to pharmacies and doctors while turning a blind eye to obviously suspicious circumstances. This led to black market sales causing much misery, suffering and death in the city because of the addiction. -Yet another case where Big Pharma obviously cares more about its profit margin than people.

Purdue tried to crush the City of Everett’s lawsuit. However, the chief judge for Washington’s Western District has ruled in favour of Everett and the lawsuit could well go ahead. If it does go ahead, will the result turn out to be the like the other similar case lawsuits where the result will be no hefty fine, no criminal charges for Purdue?

Purdue Pharmaceuticals – Promoting deadly opioid drugs as “safe”

Purdue knew about OxyContin and its supply connection to the criminal pill mills, but their execs did nothing about it. Previously, Purdue had been fined and their execs were criminally charged for making false, misleading claims about OxyContin: Underplaying its dangerous, highly addictive nature, Purdue had marketed and promoted OxyContin as safe, claiming the drug had certain efficacies which had never existed.  In effect, Purdue had started a prescription drug opioid epidemic. For more on this go, here.

Alternative pain relief

There are alternatives to opioid drugs that can give just as much pain relief. For example, far less dangerous non-opioid drugs such as acetaminophen (aka Tylenol) have been shown to be just as effective in pain relief as a number of opioids.

Natural non-drug alternatives

There are a range of cheap, natural non-toxic, non-addictive, very effective pain relief alternatives. Some have potent anti-inflammatory properties such as turmeric. Curcumin is the active ingredient in turmeric. Then there’s bromelain obtained from a pineapple core. Alternatively, grated ginger mixed in with pineapple or veggie juice or just hot water works well. Black current, borage and evening primrose oils have been effective in alleviating arthritic pain.

When all options have been exhausted most doctors pay little attention to diet. For pain prevention and pain relief a plant-based alkaline diet, plenty of vitamin D and good quality fats are recommended at all times.

Massage, chiropractic and acupuncture treatments are also very good at pain relief.

Suppression of alternative pain relievers

Kratom (kratom tree leafs) is an excellent natural alternative pain reliever. Because of its increasing popularity, it is perceived by Big Pharma as a competitor threat to their opioid pain relief market. That’s why the FDA has been involved in going after kratom suppliers using false unsubstantiated claims.

Medical marijuana is effective in dealing with opioid withdrawal and pain relief: Medical marijuana is another substance authority has fought against, basically for the same reasons as kratom.

In all cases consult a health professional for advice on treatment.

You can read more from Paul A. Philips at his site New Paradigm