THE NEEDLE AND THE DAMAGE DONE: OPIOID EPIDEMIC

Overview:

Opioids are medications that reduce the intensity of pain-signal perception. Importantly, in addition to relieving pain, opioids also activate reward regions in the brain causing the euphoria—or high—that underlies the potential for misuse and addiction. Opioids include the illegal drug heroin, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, and pain relievers available legally by prescription, such as oxycodone (OxyContin®), hydrocodone (Vicodin®), codeine, morphine, and many others.

The opioid epidemic. It's killed tens of thousands of people in the past few years. And, was declared a public health emergency. Today, millions of Americans are addicted to opioids. And, the death toll quadrupled between 1999 and 2015. More people have been turning to cheaper alternatives like heroin, which is a lot stronger and more dangerous. Plus, heroin is increasingly being mixed with fentanyl, a legal opioid that's so strong that just breathing it in or touching it can be fatal. The states hardest hit by the epidemic include Ohio, West Virginia, and New Hampshire. And the most vulnerable communities are white and non-Hispanic people in their prime working age(25-54), with males affected more.

Last year, drug overdoses killed about 72,000 Americans which is higher than the peak yearly death totals from H.I.V., car crashes or gun deaths. In comparison, more than 58,000 US soldiers died in the entire Vietnam War, nearly 55,000 Americans died of car crashes at the peak of such deaths in 1972, more than 43,000 died due to HIV/AIDS during that epidemic's peak in 1995, and nearly 40,000 died of guns during the peak of those deaths in 1993.

Sources:National Institute on Drug Abuse, Article from Vox, Article from NYTimes

Chart above shows that Opioid overdose deaths across the country have risen steadily since 1999, from 8627 to 29650. That means, in 2014, more than 81 Americans died every day from an Opioid overdose( including prescription and illicit opioids). Thats a death every 17.7 minutes.

Chart above shows that Opioid prescriptions dispensed by U.S. retailers almost doubled in 15 years(1999 -2014). It peaked in 2011, when 219 million presriptions were written by doctors for Opioid painkillers. In 1991, this number was 76 million. Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse.

"Escalating use of prescription opioids for pain management has drastically contributed to America's opioid epidemic."- Source: https://www.moveforwardpt.com/resources/detail/opioid-abuse-statistics-of-50-states-2

Although, prescription rates have fallen, overdoses associated with Fentanyl and Heroin have risen dramatically, contributing to a sharp spike in synthetic Opioid deaths.

The states with the highest Opioid overdose death rate per 100,000 standard population in 2014 include West Virginia(31.6), New Hampshire (22.8), Rhode Island(20) and New Mexico(19.9).

Dependencies:

Python Packages used:

1. pandas
2. numpy
3. matplotlib
4. seaborn
5. plotly

Links to render on nbviewer:

Analysis on Opioid Epidemic

Next steps:

Few more ideas to explore:

• Link between America's Opioid crisis and unemployment
• Link between America's Opioid crisis and education
• How are federal programs addressing the Opioid epidemic?
• Sharing needles to inject drugs and HIV