TUCSON, Ariz., March 22, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- The U.S. is said to be suffering from a crisis in deaths
from opioid overdoses, prompting legislative and other efforts to
clamp down on physician prescribing of these drugs. However, this
effort is likely misdirected, according to a careful review of
official government data by John D.
Lilly, M.B.A., D.O., in the spring issue of the Journal
of American Physicians and Surgeons.
Until 2013, deaths attributed to synthetic opioids were fairly
stable, but a sharp upward trend began then, with an increase of
635% from 2014 to 2016.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) uses the
International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision
(ICD-10), to identify causes of death, but NIDA's overlapping
categories can be confusing. Using data from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Wonder data base, Dr. Lilly
sorts out the deaths associated with illicit fentanyl. The main
sources of illicit fentanyl are Mexico and China. It is often mixed with heroin.
Notably, the spike in deaths has occurred while opioid
prescribing is being heavily discouraged and placed under
increasingly severe constraints. Dr. Lilly concludes that these
policies are apparently driving opioid misusers from legally
prescribed drugs to illicit drugs, which are far deadlier because
of high potency and unreliable dosing.
The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons is
published by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons
(AAPS), a national organization representing physicians in all
specialties since 1943.
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SOURCE Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons