Live Free Kentucky
  • Home
  • Libertarianism 101
  • Anarchy 2020
  • Archives
    • 2019 Consolidated
    • Campaign 2018
    • Lobby 2017
    • Campaign 2016
    • Lobby 2016/15/14

Libertarian Party Continues To grow in kentucky



Find out more about LPKY

46,471: Drug Overdoses Killed More Americans Than Car Crashes or Guns

11/6/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
By Susan Jones via CNS News

More than half of the 46,471 drug-related deaths in 2013 were caused by prescription painkillers and heroin, the DEA says. (AP File Photo)(CNSNews.com) - "Drug overdose deaths are the leading cause of injury death in the United States, ahead of motor vehicle deaths and firearms (deaths)," the Drug Enforcement Agency announced on Wednesday.

In 2013, the most recent year for which data is available, 46,471 people in the United States died from drug overdoses, and more than half of those deaths were caused by prescription painkillers and heroin.

That compares with the 35,369 who died in motor vehicle crashes and 33,636 who died from firearms, as tallied by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Sadly this report confirms what we’ve known for some time: drug abuse is ending too many lives while destroying families and communities,” Acting DEA Administrator Chuck Rosenberg said as he released the 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment.

“We must stop drug abuse before it begins by teaching young people at an even earlier age about its many dangers and horrors."

Rosenberg spoke one day after Ohio voters rejected a ballot proposal that would have legalized both recreational and medical marijuana use. But 23 other states and Washington, D.C., allow the use of marijuana for medicinal and/or recreational purposes.

The DEA ranks controlled prescription drugs and heroin as the most significant drug threats to the United States.

It also views marijuana concentrates, with potency levels far exceeding those of leaf marijuana, as an "issue of growing concern."

Meanwhile, the issue of drug abuse is making its way into the presidential campaign, as some of the candidates talk about their personal experience with addictions and even deaths.

"My husband, Frank, and I buried a child to drug addiction," Carly Fiorina said at one of the Republican debates.

Jeb Bush's daughter was arrested on drug-related charges in 2002, and she has spent time in rehab. He has discussed this at some of his campaign stops.

And a video of Chris Christie talking about his good friend who became addicted to painkillers -- and died -- has now gone viral.

The National Drug Threat Assessment also discusses the traffickers, concluding that "Mexican gangs remain the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States."

The DEA notes that, according to reports from law enforcement, some of these Mexican gangs are "relocating from major metropolitan areas to establish bases of operation in suburban or rural areas."
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    COntributing Editors
    ​May Vary

    Archives

    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.