More People Die from Drug Overdoses Each Year Than Were Killed In the Entire Vietnam War

I heard a stat yesterday that shocked me, even though it should not have. The stat was actually wrong, because things are far worse than what I heard on the radio.

In 2021, 290 people per day died died from a drug overdose. The person on the radio said "This is more than died every day in the Vietnam War. "

Actually, on the bloodiest day of the Vietnam War, 31 January 1968, only 249 U.S. soldiers were killed. The reality is that 58,000 Americans died in Vietnam during the entire war. So if we begin with the escalation under President Johnson and use 1965 as a start and end in 1975 when Saigon fell, that would mean an average of 5,800 died per year in Vietnam. More than 106,000 died from drug-involved overdoses in 2021, and even more than that died in 2022. 

IN OTHER WORDS, 18 TIMES AS MANY PEOPLE ARE DYING FROM OPIOIDS PER YEAR AS DIED PER YEAR IN THE VIETNAM WAR.

To quote Marvin Gaye, "What's going on?"

Many blame the crisis on our porous borders. Others blame the pharmaceutical companies. 

Here's the thing that concerns many of us, though. When we do have surgeries and are suffering physically, we need something to alleviate that pain. Two Tylenol ain't gonna cut it.

Here's an important article in Reason magazine that warms about the danger of going too far when it comes to restricting pain killers.

"Laws that arbitrarily set duration or quantity restrictions for opioid treatment regimens are premised on the belief that increased access to prescription opioids has led to an increase in addiction and, ultimately, overdose deaths.

"However, while opioid deaths continue to soar, opioid prescribing rates have decreased every year since 2012."

One of the reasons the notion of physician assisted suicide took hold as an idea is directly related to this problem. When I wrote about ethical issues in terminal health care back in the 90s, this very problem was a major issue. Should people who are already dying be forced to accept intolerable pain for fear that they might get addicted to pain medicine? 

Make time to read the article if you are able: The Fight to Criminalize Opioid Prescribing

Something to think about.