The opioid that causes 81% of overdoses in the USA
According to the latest United Nations World Drug Report , in 2022 approximately 292 million people worldwide used illegal drugs, of which 60 million consumed opioids such as morphine, codeine or heroin. This figure makes opioids the second most used class of illicit drugs, after cannabis, which has approximately 228 million users.
Although cannabis use is more widespread and carries a relatively low risk of addiction, it does not cause overdose deaths. The same cannot be said for the class of opioids, which are much more powerful and dangerous. As highlighted by the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), synthetic opioids such as fentanyl have become the leading cause of the growing number of overdose deaths.
Of the nearly 108,000 overdose deaths recorded in 2022, nearly 74,000 were directly linked to synthetic opioids, with fentanyl as the leading cause . Fentanyl is said to be 50 times more potent than heroin and has become the favorite choice of illegal drug producers due to its ease of production and low cost, unlike traditional opioids that rely on cultivation. The impact is even more severe among younger populations. In the 15 to 24 age group, 81% of the 6,696 overdose deaths in 2022 will be attributed to synthetic opioids, with the number of deaths from 2015 to 2022 increasing fivefold.
On a global scale, opioid use has remained relatively stable since 2019, with reported users even down slightly from 62 million the year before the coronavirus pandemic. According to data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the global prevalence rate of opioid use was 1.2% in 2022. However, some regions experienced significantly higher rates: 3.2% in the Near and Middle East/Southwest Asia, 2.7% in North America and 2.0% in Australia and New Zealand.
While cannabis use continues to dominate in terms of numbers, the stark difference in overdose risks highlights the urgency of addressing the ongoing opioid crisis, particularly the lethal threat posed by synthetic variants such as fentanyl.
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The article Opioid causing 81% of overdoses in the US comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/loppiaceo-che-causa-l81-delle-overdose-negli-usa/ on Tue, 03 Sep 2024 07:00:00 +0000.