I’m continuously amazed by the manner in which denial and irrational thought play out in individual behavior. Given the right circumstances, no one is immune from it and sometimes it can even have beneficial side-effects and outcomes, but in regards to COVID-19 and our government’s response to opioids when treating painful conditions, duplicity has been exposed.

Locating a pain management doctor has become a daunting task. Click here to find one in your area.

A new publication from the Trust for America’s Health[i], TFAH.org, a non-partisan public health policy, research, and advocacy organization, shows that deaths from alcohol, drugs, and suicides have leveled off for the first time since when records were first kept in 1999.

In 2018, more than 150,000 Americans died from alcohol, drugs, and suicide combined.[ii] The 2018 death rate of 46.4 deaths per 100,000 is level with the 2017 rate of 46.6 per 100,000. This is the first time since 1999 when there hasn’t been an annual increase in the combined figure and the first time in years that there hasn’t been a sizable increase.

However, the stabilization of alcohol, drug, and suicide deaths was not uniform. Some causes, places, and populations had positive or stable trends, many had a decline in the magnitude of the increases, and others are continuing to rise too quickly.