Opioid overdose deaths have declined slightly in the last few years, in part because of the availability of Naloxone. Commonly administered in emergency rooms or by first responders when an opioid overdose is suspected, Naloxone is a medication that can quickly reverse an opioid overdose by attaching to opioid receptors, reversing and blocking the effects of other opioids in the system.
The world’s illicit drug usage problem continues to worsen and the global COVID-19 pandemic could serve to compound the problem in myriad ways, according to the latest U.N. “World Drug Report,” released late last month.
Prescription opioids, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine tend to lead headlines with regard to addiction-related news stories, belying the fact that alcohol addiction is not only much more prevalent in America, but also a bigger killer and threat to overall health.
Alcohol and drug use spiked, but not only among those who already faced problems. For many Americans, they suddenly found themselves developing a problem they didn’t have before.
Substance abuse can sometimes be an attempt to self-medicate an issue such as anxiety or depression. Often, they occur so closely together it is hard to distinguish which came first. Like the chicken or the egg, did the substance abuse cause anxiety or depression or did the depression and anxiety lead to substance abuse?