Opioids Could Cause 500,000 Deaths In US Over Next Decade

STAT (6/27, Blau) reports that opioids could “kill nearly half a million people across America over the next decade as the crisis of addiction and overdose accelerates,” according to an expert panel assembled by STAT. According to the experts’ “worst-case scenario,” the death toll due to opioids “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.” The projections are based upon expert analysis and “a review of presentations from top Trump administration health officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, and the acting chiefs of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

Related Links:

— “STAT forecast: Opioids could kill nearly 500,000 Americans in the next decade,” MAX BLAU, STAT, June 27, 2017.

Posted in In The News.