CNN (11/12, Thomas) reports new research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found the U.S. “has more than double the rate of premature overdose deaths of at least 12 other countries,” with more than 63,000 drug overdoses blamed for deaths in 2016. Yingxi Chen, who was on the research team and is a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute, said the team also found the U.S. experienced the second largest increase in deaths from drug overdose, at 4.3 percent for men and 5.3 percent for women. Another researcher not involved in the study, Caleb Banta-Green, Principal Research Scientist at the University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute, said that France “got rid of the restrictions on prescribers using the medication buprenorphine,” and “their national mortality, opiate overdose mortality rate dropped 79%.”
Related Links:
— “US has highest rate of drug overdoses, study says, “Naomi Thomas, CNN, November 12, 2018.