Substance Use Disorder, notably opioid abuse, has reached epidemic proportions in the United States over the last decade. According to a report compiled by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), drug poisoning deaths (overdoses) are the leading cause of injury death in the United States; they are currently at their highest ever recorded level and, every year since 2011, have outnumbered deaths by firearms, motor vehicle crashes, suicide, and homicide. In 2016, approximately 174 people died each day from drug poisoning. These 63,632 deaths nearly quadrupled from the 16,849 in 1999.
Unfortunately, methamphetamine and cocaine use has quietly increased to staggering levels as well. We believe that it is a societal imperative to focus on getting people effective treatment to end addiction to these illicit substances.
Addiction is defined as: A compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal. Substances of abuse include alcohol, cocaine, opiates, amphetamines, and hallucinogens. The medical complications resulting from abusing these substances are nearly infinite. Every organ system can be potentially affected to the point of “end stage,” leading to a premature death.
