8 years ago
Risk of Opioid Overdose Climbs at Middle Age
Most of the millions taking prescription painkillers are older than 45, research shows, and there's been a recent increase in drug overdose deaths among people over 55. Drug mixing is partly to blame.
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Snap: US deaths from opioid overdoses have increased five-fold since 1999, and jumped 17% in 2014 alone
From 1999 to 2014, over half a million Americans died from a drug overdose, according to CDC data. STAT news explores what’s driving the opioid epidemic. -
Snap: CDC issues sweeping new guidelines for opioid prescribing
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Snap: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug
How opioid painkillers became an epidemic -
Snap: Anatomy Of Addiction: How Heroin And Opioids Hijack The Brain
Opioids increase the amount of dopamine in a part of the brain called the limbic reward system. Dopamine causes intense feelings of pleasure which drives users to seek out the drug again and again.
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