![]() Synthetics, which are cheaper, more potent and easier to traffic in large quantities, are flooding communities across the country. While heroin deaths dropped by 68% over the same period. Of the deaths in 2021, 94% involved synthetics like fentanyl, up from 69% in 2018. In Arizona, there were 2,006 opioid confirmed fatalities last year – an 80% rise compared with 2018. About two-thirds of the recent fatalities – about 170 a day, mostly working-age Americans – have involved synthetic or human-made opioids like fentanyl, which is 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin or morphine. Nationwide, about a million Americans have died from drug overdoses since 1999, with around 100,000 deaths in the past year. Overall, 93% survived, at least on that occasion.ĭrug overdoses accounted for more than 50,000 hospital admissions and emergency room visits between 20. Just over half were aged between 25 and 44, while 6% were over 75 years old. In Arizona alone paramedics and police have responded to between 700 and 800 suspected overdoses every month so far this year, administering naloxone in 80% of callouts. “I’m sober, I need a cigarette,” he said to Ellen as they drove off.Īmerica’s opioid crisis has reached epidemic levels. He refused to be taken to hospital and became angry as the opioid withdrawals set-in. The drug, widely known by the brand name Narcan, is an emergency treatment for opioid overdose that temporarily reverses the depressive and potentially fatal effects on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.īrack came to abruptly. “Replace drug policies and strategies driven by ideology and political convenience with fiscally responsible policies and strategies grounded in science, health, security and human rights,” it recommended.Unable to rouse him, the paramedics administered the drug naloxone via an injection into his upper left arm. “Arresting and incarcerating tens of millions of these people in recent decades has filled prisons and destroyed lives and families without reducing the availability of illicit drugs or the power of criminal organizations,” the report said. “It is clear that the present system of applying the criminal law to the personal use and possession of drugs has failed,” says the petition.Īccording to UN figures, consumption of opiates rose 35.5% between 19, cocaine use went up 27% and cannabis was up 8.5%. They signed a petition, drawn up by campaign group Release, calling for those caught possessing illegal substances to be fined rather than jailed and for addicts to be referred for treatment rather than given a criminal record. “To suggest that organized crime in Mexico only amounts to drug trafficking, ignores the fact that organized gangs commit other crimes such as kidnapping, extortion and robbery,” the country’s national security council said in a statement.īut in London, actress Judi Dench, entrepreneur Richard Branson and pop star Sting joined three former police chiefs in urging British leader David Cameron to decriminalize drugs possession. “We wish to welcome a new direction and think, that perhaps of all countries, we have the moral authority to take part in such a discussion,” he said.īut Mexico, where more than 37,000 people have died in brutal drug wars since 2006, reacted angrily to the idea of legalizing drugs saying it would “not strengthen our security institutions and law enforcement.” ![]() “Decriminalization initiatives do not result in significant increases in drug use,” the report said, citing policies in Australia, Holland and Portugal.Ĭolombian President Juan Manuel Santos said Thursday that he was open to analyzing a “new direction” in the fight against drugs. “Encourage experimentation by governments with models of legal regulation of drugs to undermine the power of organized crime and safeguard the health and security of their citizens,” it recommended. Saying restrictions on marijuana should be loosened, the report urged governments to “end the criminalization, marginalization and stigmatization of people who use drugs but who do no harm to others.” Repression of consumers such as jailing those found in possession of drugs were distracting from other public health measures, such as the battle against AIDS and HIV, it argued. The group of prominent statesmen, many from countries on the frontline of the seemingly never-ending war on drugs, said purely punitive measures had in fact led to a situation where “the global scale of illegal drug markets - largely controlled by organized crime - has grown dramatically.” This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
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