Drug Overdose Deaths Nearly Tripled in the last fifteen years- Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
An early release on December 16, 2016, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that “drug overdose deaths have nearly tripled in the last fifteen years” [paraphrase]–almost 61% (three-fifths) of the 47,000 drug overdose deaths in 2014 “involved an opioid” (were at least partially due to consumption of an opiate-like drug.) In 2015, of 52,404 drug overdose deaths, 63.1% involved an opioid, an increase of 5,000 deaths from drug overdoses in one year. The age-adjusted opioid-related death rate increased by 15.6% from 2014-2015. The death rate from synthetic opioids other than methadone increased by 72.2%, while death rates from methadone decreased by 9.1%.
From the MMWR/CDC report:
The largest absolute rate change in deaths from synthetic opioids other than methadone occurred in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island and West Virginia. The largest percentage increases in rates occurred in New York (135.7%), Connecticut (125.9%) and Illinois (120%) … Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ohio, and West Virginia experienced the largest absolute rate changes in heroin deaths, while the largest percentage increases in rates occurred in South Carolina (57.1%), North Carolina (46.4%), and Tennessee (43.5%.)
[The large increases in these states reflect the spread of distribution of fentanyl-enhanced heroin.]
Researchers attribute the increased death rates from opioids to the recent introduction of illicitly manufactured fentanyl, which is used to enhance the potency of heroin sold on the street (fentanyl is approximately fifty times as potent as heroin.) Heroin is so cheap on the street (despite the best efforts of the Drug Enforcement Agency or DEA) that even pure heroin is “a drug on the market.” Thus, fentanyl-enhanced heroin is a popular value-added product. Drug users who are unaware that the heroin that they purchase contains fentanyl frequently overdose because they do not expect an enhanced-potency product (especially because the product they purchase is not labelled as to potency or actual drug content.) Such overdose deaths have become increasingly common, first in New York and with time across the United States.
Thus we see that drug overdose deaths are often due to the illicit nature of the product used– the accidental overdose is related to the fact that it is not labelled as to potency, and the lack of labelling is related to the fact that there are no regulations controlling the way the drug is sold since it is illegal in the first place. What is even more deadly is that there are no ready treatments available for individuals who have overdosed, even if the cause of an apneic collapse (a person who stops breathing and appears unresponsive) is known.
In fact, there is a specific and reliable antidote to opioid overdoses, in the form of the opioid antagonist naloxone (Narcan)– when injected intravenously or even simply subcutaneously, naloxone rapidly reverses the stupor and apnea characteristic of overdose. Naloxone frequently doesn’t last long enough to prevent relapse but at least the dose can be repeated and provides a clear diagnosis when it is effective.
Autoinjectors containing naloxone are a lifesaving treatment for opioid overdoses that can be successfully administered by untrained persons, and have been distributed to many big-city paramedic ambulances as well as to fire department personnel. There is little reason not to distribute autoinjectors to people who may be at risk of accidental overdoses other than closed-minded conservative attitudes that have simultaneously prevented clean needle distributions and street medics who offer AIDS tests and additional medical assistance. The failure of the DEA to prevent cheap heroin from being sold on the street is already plain; other methods to reduce deaths from drug overdose are needed urgently.
Reince Priebus released a Christmas message yesterday for dissemination to the press and public, which said, in part:
Over two millennia ago, a new hope was born into the world, a Savior who would offer the promise of salvation to all mankind. Just as the three wise men did on that night, this Christmas heralds a time to celebrate the good news of a new King.
Please consider the second sentence as released, above. What does it mean, exactly? Is it just a generalized religious message, or does it refer to “a new King” specifically, Donald?
Woman Survives 33,000 Ft Fall From Airplane Explosion in 1972; Dies of Natural Causes at 68
A woman, Vesna Vulovic, who was a stewardess on a flight from Copenhagen in 1972, was the only survivor out of 27 passengers and crew when the plane broke up at cruising altitude. She was trapped in the tail section by a food cart when the fragment of the plane landed in a wooded, snow-covered area on a mountain in Czechoslovakia. It was thought that the plane was brought down by a terrorist bomb but no suspects were ever arrested. She was in a coma for ten days afterwards and suffered a fractured skull, pelvis, two vertebrae, several ribs, and both legs. She was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down but eventually made a near-full recovery. She never regained memory of the crash or her rescue. She returned to work at the airline in a desk job. She continued to fly as a passenger.
Vesna Vulovic made it into the Guinness Book of Records for the longest fall without a parachute. She died yesterday at home in Belgrade; the cause was not immediately determined, but she was 68 years old.
From the Washington Post:
In a nationally representative online survey of 1,011 Americans conducted by Qualtrics between Dec. 6 and 12, we asked respondents, “In last month’s election, Donald Trump won the majority of votes in the electoral college. Who do you think won the most popular votes?”
Twenty-nine percent said Donald Trump won the popular vote. This is a slightly larger proportion than in a recent Pew survey in which 19 percent said Trump won the popular vote.
Respondents’ correct understanding of the popular vote depended a great deal on partisanship. A large fraction of Republicans — 52 percent — said Trump won the popular vote, compared with only 7 percent of Democrats and 24 percent of independents. Among Republicans without any college education, the share was even larger: 60 percent, compared with 37 percent of Republicans with a college degree.
In fact, Hillary won the popular vote by at least 2.8 million votes (and they’re still counting.)
China Willing to go to War with Trump
On July 4, 2015, the US and Australia held joint military exercises on Fog Bay, in Australia’s Northern Territories. The exercises, called Talisman Saber, and involving 33,000 troops, was designed to simulate an invasion of the Malacca Straits and cutting off China’s access to oil, gas, and other raw materials from the Middle East and Africa. That was merely a “routine exercise” but it made the point to China that the US would not tolerate changes in the status quo in the South China Sea.
China reacted negatively to Trump’s suggestion that he might use the independence of Taiwan as a bargaining chip to “get a better deal” with China on trade or other issues, that is, to change the status quo in the South China Sea in the favor of the US.
Here’s a quote from Newsweek, which shows what the Chinese government thinks of Trump and how it will slap him down:
“The calculating businessman might feel shrewd about seizing China’s fate by the throat through the Taiwan question,” responded China’s state-run Global Times newspaper, a mouthpiece for hard-right nationalists. “However, the truth is this inexperienced president-elect probably has no knowledge of what he’s talking about.” If Trump tries to change Taiwan’s status, China, might well “offer support, even military assistance to U.S. foes,” it said.
Gordo the Kitten
A Few Words From President Obama
Here is a small portion of a speech given by President Barack Obama at McDill Air Force Base on December 6, 2016:
We’re a nation that believes freedom can never be taken for granted and that each of us has a responsibility to sustain it. The universal right to speak your mind and to protest against authority, to live in a society that’s open and free, that can criticize a President without retribution — (applause) — a country where you’re judged by the content of your character rather than what you look like, or how you worship, or what your last name is, or where your family came from — that’s what separates us from tyrants and terrorists.
(thanks to Snopes.com)
(the photo is of Albert Einstein at age three.)
A five-year, rigorous medical study of 956 women published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Psychiatry concluded that women who received an abortion had similar or better mental health than women who were denied an abortion for the full five years afterwards.
In fact, women who were refused an abortion had higher levels of anxiety, lower self-esteem, and lower life satisfaction (but not higher depression) eight days after the procedure was denied than women who did have an abortion.
The National Right to Life organization made this statement, which completely denies the outcome of the study:
“We know that some women do eventually have serious negative psychological responses to their abortions, some within a year or two but most several years down the road.”
They neglected to mention that the same number of women who did NOT have an abortion had serious negative psychological responses, given that more than 30 percent of ALL people have an anxiety disorder and 20 percent have a mood disorder at some point in their lives (thanks to Snopes.com.)
Mortality in the US, 2015
The age-adjusted death rate in the United States rose 1.2% and the life expectancy decreased by 0.1 year in 2015, according to the National Center for Health Statistics report issued December 8, 2016. The infant mortality rate was unsignificantly changed from 2014 at 589.5 infant deaths per 100,000 live births (just over 0.5%) versus 2014’s 582.1 deaths per 100,000; again, that was insignificant, but an increase of 7.4 deaths per 100,000. There was a significant increase of 11.3% in infant deaths from unintentional injuries (accidents.)
This was the first time since 1999 that the death rate increased significantly. Incidentally, the age-adjusted death rates for black males were more than twice the rates for Hispanic females. The life expectancy at age 65 was 19.4 years, unchanged from 2014. The five leading causes of death were heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases (“emphysema”), unintentional injuries (“accidents”), and stroke. Suicide, the tenth cause of death, increased from 13.0 per 100,000 to 13.3.
Texas Governor Rick Perry was picked to head a major government department. In 2011, during a presidential debate, he pledged to eliminate three government departments, including one for which he couldn’t remember the name. That department is the Department of Energy. Now Donald’s plan is clear: he intends to have people running departments which they intended to eliminate, or at least dramatically change.
(photo: crashed Porsche Boxster in Tehran)
Conrad Theodore Seitz 