Harm Reduction: Drug-Related Deaths Rose Dramatically in Recent Years, CDC Says

In a report released Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has found that drug-related deaths -- the vast majority of them overdoses -- increased dramatically between 1999 and 2006, and that drug-related deaths now outpace deaths from motor vehicle accidents in 16 states. That's up from 12 states the previous year and double the eight states in 2003.

More people died from drug-related causes than traffic accidents in the following states: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

The news comes even as harm reductionists and public health advocates seek to gain support on Capitol Hill for passage of H.R. 2855, the Drug Overdose Reduction Act, sponsored by Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD). The bill would create a federal grant program to support both existing and new overdose prevention programs across the country.

"Patients and their families could receive written instructions on how to recognize and respond to an overdose. In addition, college campuses could utilize overdose prevention money to educate students on how to recognize and respond to an alcohol overdose," advocates for H.R. 2855 wrote in a letter to Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Frank Pallone (D-NJ), chairmen of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the committee's Health subcommittee, respectively.

Something like H.R. 2855 is desperately needed. According to CDC researchers, who examined death certificate data from around the country, some 45,000 died in traffic accidents in 2006, while 39,000 people suffered drug-related deaths. About 90% of the drug deaths were classified as overdoses, but researchers also included in that figure people who died of organ damage from long-term drug use.

Researchers reported a sharp increase in deaths tied to cocaine and to the opioid analgesics, a class of powerful drugs, used medically for pain treatment (as well as for non-prescription drug-taking via the black market), that includes fentanyl, methadone, morphine, and popular pain relievers like Vicodin and Oxycontin. Cocaine-related deaths jumped from about 4,000 in 1999 to more than 7,000 in 2006, but methadone-related deaths increased seven-fold to about 5,000, and other opioid deaths more than doubled from less than 3,000 to more than 6,000. Interestingly, heroin-related deaths actually declined slightly, hovering just below 2,000 a year throughout the period in question.

And despite all the alarms about young people dying of drug overdoses, the 15-24 age group had the lowest drug-related death rate of any group except those over 65. Only about three per 100,000 young people died of drug-related causes in 2006, compared to six per 100,000 among the 25-34 age group, eight per 100,000 in the 35-44 age group, and 10 per 100,000 in the 45-54 age group.

CDC researchers did not discuss causes for the increase in overall drug-related deaths or the rate of drug-related deaths.