The death rates from Opiate overdoses keep going up and up. Each year, we hear about more folks, often young people, whom have died from a drug overdose. Most Americans have relatives or friends who have died from an overdose. The overdoses are not from suicide attempts. Rather, they are from a person accidently taking too high of an amount of Opiates, or mixing together various drugs producing a lethal combination.
Last year, over 37,000 Americans died from overdoses. That number will be surpassed this year. Over the past ten years, over a quarter of a million people have died in the United States from Opiate overdoses. That’s 250,000 too many. Many of these individuals were in the prime of their lives.
What do Opiates do, that causes a person to die? Opiates can cause a person to stop breathing. The person usually just fades away, while forgetting to breath. All Opiates, (with the exception of the medication Buprenorphine-used to treat Opiate Use Disorder), can cause a person to stop breathing, if taken in high enough doses.
In addition, combining Opiates with certain other drugs can produce death, much more so than if the person took the same drugs individually. Examples are if a person mixes Opiates with Alcohol, or Opiates with medications in the class of drugs called Benzodiazapines. Benzodiazapines (Benzos) are drugs such as, for example- Xanax, Valium, Klonopin, Librium and Ativan. Mixing any of these medicines with Opiates can enhance the effects of the Opiates to dangerously high levels. Often times, a person will take the same dose of Opiates they are accustomed to taking, but in addition, they take Benzodiazapines too. Doing this can be like taking two or three or even ten times the dose of Opiates. That what causes a person to quit breathing.
If you or someone you know, has a problem with Opiates; call today-The Drug and Alcohol Detox Clinic of South Mississippi @ 601.261.9101. Or check out their website @ www.TheDrugandAlcoholDetoxClinic.com. You can also follow them on Twitter for latest news and update! There’s Still Hope!
