Drug Overdosing is getting far out of hand

By: Zack S.

       The amount of overdose related deaths has increased a lot over the years. In fact, since the year 1999, preventable drug overdoses have increased by 781%, and 92% of drug overdose deaths were preventable.  In January of 2021, four times as many people died from a drug overdose than from homicide. Drug overdosing has gotten so bad and so far out of hand, and it’s really not hard to tell at this point. The death count has been on the rise over the years. Yet, more and more people are abusing drugs. This is a big problem.

       An example of this issue is the story of William Christian Doerhoff. William was an intelligent student who attended Little Rock Catholic High School in Arkansas, and he had a 3.7 GPA during high school. Life seemed good for William, until in his first year attending the University of Arkansas where William decided to join a fraternity. Another member of the fraternity introduced William to smoking and injecting drugs. William then became addicted, and in the summer of 2015 his mother found him face down in his room, overdosed on heroin. William then spent multiple months in recovery. However, William then died in October of 2016 due to a heroin overdose at just 20 years of age.

       Most overdose deaths, including the death of William, are related to a drug type called an opioid. There are many fatal drugs that are considered opioids. Those may include opium, heroin, and fentanyl. These opioid drugs account for 77% of preventable overdose deaths. In 2021, over 98,000 people in the United States died from an overdose that was preventable. Worldwide in 2019, around 600,000 overdose deaths were recorded. About 80% of those deaths were related to the use of opioids. 

       One of the most potent opioids is fentanyl. Fentanyl is a newer drug that has been on a high trend in recent years, and the death rates are only reaching bigger numbers. Fentanyl claimed the lives of over 67,000 Americans in 2021. What may be worst of all is that it’s being laced and hidden in pills, and even the smallest bit of contact with fentanyl can kill you. 

       Another lethal well-known opioid is heroin. Heroin has been proven to be one of the deadliest opioids due to its numbers of fatalities. From the  five year stretch of 2016 through 2020, over 70,000 Americans had died from a preventable drug overdose death caused by heroin. While its number of fatalities in the United States has decreased in very recent years, possibly due to the rise of other drugs like fentanyl, it will still be notorious for its high fatality number. 

       But what may be one of the biggest issues with opioids is the addictiveness and how people aren’t going to get the treatment or rehabilitation that they need. Worldwide, 39.5 million people had lived with a drug disorder in 2021. But many of those people may not have been receiving that treatment or rehabilitation because we are still seeing many deaths taking place, serving as proof of the severity of receiving help for these issues.

       A different well-known non-opioid drug that is known for its reaction upon taking is cocaine. Cocaine has been a drug that has caused issues for several years now, and it is highly illegal to partake in the dealing or use of this drug. That is because of the wild reactions people have after taking it and the danger it causes. In 2020 and 2021, well over 40,000 Americans had died from an overdose on cocaine. 

       A solution may be to crack down harder and increase the punishment severity for people who partake in the dealing of illegal drugs and people who partake in the use of these drugs, because people continue to involve themselves in the illegal activities relating to drugs; that most likely means that people are not learning from the punishments already being handed out, meaning that the punishments may need to be more severe. But those who are struggling with drug addictions themselves need to seek someone with whom they can talk, whether that be a friend, therapist, or other. 

       A better solution may be to prevent people from starting to take these drugs in the first place. Reach out to someone who you think may be going through something.   Don’t feel pressured to have to follow what everyone else is doing. Stay strong to who you are, and don’t start taking things to hurt your future. Consistently try to make yourself and your future better. If people can work together, we can stop this tragic fate.