Americans are dying from accident less often than they used to. One cause of unintentional death, however, is on the rise.
As written in the Naperville Sun:
Drug overdoses — such as those that killed three Naperville teens over the summer — are taking lives at unprecedented rates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the incidence of overdose deaths has increased fivefold since 1990. In 2007, there were 27,658 unintentional drug overdose deaths in the U.S., according to the National Vital Statistics System. In 2009, the number was 37,485.
Many say it is especially alarming that young people don’t seem to be getting the message, turning a deaf ear to the danger signs even as their peers perish.
“We feel like we’re seeing more heroin use in the young age groups than we did just five years ago,” said Dr. David Lott, director of the chemical dependency unit at Linden Oaks at Edward in Naperville, where admissions for addiction to heroin and other opiates have tripled in the past six years.
The problem often starts in the comfort of home. Many kids need go no farther than the bathroom medicine cabinet.
Read the entire article here.