LIFE expectancy in America declined for the second year running in 2016 according to data recently released by the Centers for Disease control and Prevention (CDC). Unsurprisingly, one major cause was the opioid epidemic. The CDC reported that deaths from drug overdoses rose from 16,848 in 1999 to 63,632 in 2016. The increase was particularly steep among those aged 55 to 64, for whom death rates increased six-fold over that period. Mortality from opioids designed for pain relief spiked from about one-fifth to over one half of total drug deaths.
This grim epidemic has often been blamed on economic conditions. But a new paper by Christopher Ruhm at the University of Virginia suggests that economic conditions can only help explain a small fraction of the increase in drug mortality rates.
Mr Ruhm’s recent work suggests that, over the long term, economic conditions are a comparatively small factor behind drug mortality rates. Deaths have spiked in communities where economic conditions are relatively good and amongst racial groups (whites) that have seen comparatively limited economic insecurity. Mr Ruhm’s results suggest that “deaths of despair” do not account for more than one-tenth of the rise in drug and opioid-involved mortality rates.
Neither unemployment and poverty rates, median household incomes, or exposure to imports were significantly related to suicide and alcohol deaths in Mr Ruhm’s study, while house prices were only weakly related. Another finding points to the more important factor behind increased drug use: whites were more affected than non-whites. The reason? White people were more widely being prescribed opioids in the first place. The epidemic is caused by access to drugs rather than economic conditions.
Further Reading:
“Attacking the Root of the Opioid Crisis - Pharmaceutical Companies”; http://bit.ly/2waNC4w ;
“Newtown Has a 24/7 Drug Drop Box”; http://bit.ly/2nyCKuS
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