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Correct! “ The synthetic and highly addictive drug has claimed more lives than COVID-19, auto crashes, gun violence, cancer and suicide in the year 2020.” htt

Correct! “ The synthetic and highly addictive drug has claimed more lives than COVID-19, auto crashes, gun violence, cancer and suicide in the year 2020.” https://www.abc12.com/news/fentanyl-number-one-cause-of-death-for-adults-18-45-recent-government-data-says/article_ed0bfe28-5f79-11ec-8aa0-af3f6cbff03c.html https://www.abc12.com/news/fentanyl-number-one-cause-of-deat...

jeffbee 5y ago
No byline. No sources. Bad article. The article appears to attribute all accidental poisoning to fentanyl. That seems like an error.
- mlyle 5y ago
  > The article appears to attribute all accidental poisoning to fentanyl. That seems like an error. I don't think it does. Sure, they throw out the 100k overdoses number at the end, which isn't specific to fentanyl, but the other numbers they cite are around 40k/year and a run rate of 64k/year by Deceber 2021. Current data is here: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm It's about 62k deaths from synthetic opioids/year (excluding methadone) at the end of the series-- the vast majority of these are fentanyl. Plus a bunch of heroin deaths which are rapidly becoming "really fentanyl" deaths. And that's up to April, not December.
  - jeffbee 5y ago
    That data is for all ages. If you go to WISQARS and filter for ages 18-45, which is the subject of the news site's article, it looks to me like the numbers they are giving in the article are the same as the total number of accidental poisoning.
    - mlyle 5y ago
      They're pulling from this fact sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S0szR2Ua9v0Sr91YhDD7gPrXsDkHxDvP/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S0szR2Ua9v0Sr91YhDD7gPrXsDk... Topic 1 is on ages 18-45: more deaths from fentanyl than from... The later topics are on all ages. The fact sheet attributes 24k deaths in the age range to fentanyl in 2019. WISQARS accidental injuries from poisoning in the age range were 38k in 2019. 2/3rds in that age range being fentanyl is totally plausible. https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D157;jsessionid=7A04C7DC8D17F0A5FA2103363BB7 https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D157;jsessioni... has the broken down data. They have 36,907 deaths in 2020 from 18-45 with T40.4-- "other synthetic opioids excluding methadone". FAF is calling all deaths from synthetic opioids fentanyl, which isn't quite true but it's very likely close to true.
woodruffw 5y ago
Government data does not say that. The CDC recorded 100k drug overdose deaths in 2020[1], ~75% of which were from opioids. They don't have a breakdown of how many of those 75k opioid deaths were fentanyl, but it's an order of magnitude below just the confirmed number of COVID-19 deaths in 2020[2]. Edit: The reporting in this article is remarkably bad: it confuses a two-year range (Jan-2020 to Dec-2021) with a one-year range, and itself contains a number that's nowhere near the number of COVID deaths: > The drug has taken just shy of 80,000 people's lives between January 2020 and December 2021. [1]: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2021/20211117.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2021/... [2]: https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20211122/us-covid-deaths-2021-surpass-2020-total https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20211122/us-covid-deaths-202...
- mlyle 5y ago
  I agree the report makes its point poorly and phrases statistics carelessly, but you made a similar mistake: they explicitly state it exceeds COVID deaths over ages 18-45. All these media reports were all influenced by this underlying factsheet from FAF. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S0szR2Ua9v0Sr91YhDD7gPrXsDkHxDvP/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S0szR2Ua9v0Sr91YhDD7gPrXsDk... Broadly, it appears true: fentanyl deaths look like they outweigh all those things in the younger population. And it doesn't look implausible that synthetic opioids could have killed a total of 64k across the entire population in 2021. (I think they were comparing trailing-twelve-month data from two dates in each case..) edit, 3mins: I was distracted and my previous version of this reply was word salad.
  - woodruffw 5y ago
    Thanks for linking the factsheet. These deaths are a useless tragedy, and it frustrates me to see them framed against another useless tragedy. The CDC's death count with age breakdowns[1] shows that over twice as many people aged 18-64 died of COVID-19 than drug overdoes, combined across 2020 and 2021. That flips when you limit it to just 18-45, which is the statistic FAF is using. [1]: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm#SexAndAge https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm#Se...
arcticbull 5y ago
> "The synthetic and highly addictive drug" Funny use of the word 'synthetic' to add extra spookiness. Something like 60% of first-world medicines are natural origin or secondary metabolites of natural origin - the other 40% are all synthetic. [1] [1] https://www.spandidos-publications.com/10.3892/br.2017.909 https://www.spandidos-publications.com/10.3892/br.2017.909
- jimmygrapes 5y ago
  I wondered this myself, since they usually spell out "synthetic opioid" when referring to fentanyl and its ilk, ostensibly to compare it against naturally derived opioids. I have no idea how many in use today are naturally derived; maybe "synthetic" was always a scare term on that context?
  - philipkglass 5y ago
    The only two opioids naturally found in the poppy that are also used in medicine are codeine and morphine. All others are semi-synthetic (chemical modifications of poppy alkaloids) or fully synthetic. Even most codeine is made by methylating morphine, since the poppy under-produces it relative to medical demand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opioid#Semisynthetic_and_synthetic_opioids https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opioid#Semisynthetic_and_synth...
  - worik 5y ago
    "Synthetic opioid" is used to describe an opioid not derived from the morphine in the opium poppy (or the codeine in the dried poppy) I am not a doctor: Of the very powerful "powder" drugs heroin is the safest as it has very little effect on the involuntary respiratory system which is the route that opiates take to kill. "Nodding off" on synthetic opiates leads commonly to death (which is why you always prod a sleeping junky - wake up!!) but not so much on heroin. But it is much safer to smoke opium, if you wish to have such a habit. Much less chance of death and disease. So, you cruel, nay, sadistic lawmakers: Legalise opium! But people popping pills are nearly invisible and die quietly - people smoking opium fill up establishments, make funny smells and do not conveniently die off in the corner.....
  - 5y ago
intrepidhero 5y ago
Yikes. For ages 18-45, since heart disease and cancer still lead overall but still yikes. https://api.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/dec/23/facebook-posts/fentanyl-deaths-spike-facebook-post-overstates-how/ https://api.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/dec/23/facebook-p...
Bud 5y ago
Not to be unkind, but a local TV station as a primary source for such a sweeping conclusion on a very complex issue is, well, basically worthless.
TrispusAttucks 5y ago
[1] The person that many hold accountable for the opioid crisis was made head of the FDA by the Biden administration on his first day! [2] Most fentanyl (+ precursors) is manufactured in China and then comes across the southern border from Mexico. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/28/fda-janet-woodcock-opioids-biden https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/28/fda-janet-wo... [2] (PDF) https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-03/DEA_GOV_DIR-008-20%20Fentanyl%20Flow%20in%20the%20United%20States_0.pdf https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-03/DEA_GOV_DIR-...
sneak 5y ago
A reminder: tobacco use kills 7x as many people every day, week, month, and year as opiates in the USA. If opiate deaths are a problem, tobacco ones are a 7x larger problem.
mike00632 5y ago
>“ The synthetic and highly addictive drug has claimed more lives than COVID-19, auto crashes, gun violence, cancer and suicide in the year 2020.” To be clear, this is false. Fentanyl overdoses (according to that article) have killed about 80,000 people in a year in the US whereas COVID-19 has killed more than 386,000. It's nowhere close. And that is not to mention all of the people COVID-19 has permanently disabled. I know the article has some quantifiers elsewhere that could be used to form a true statement if included. But as stated, that is false and it's being used to mislead people into think COVID-19 isn't that serious.

jeffbee 5y ago

No byline. No sources. Bad article. The article appears to attribute all accidental poisoning to fentanyl. That seems like an error.

mlyle 5y ago
> The article appears to attribute all accidental poisoning to fentanyl. That seems like an error. I don't think it does. Sure, they throw out the 100k overdoses number at the end, which isn't specific to fentanyl, but the other numbers they cite are around 40k/year and a run rate of 64k/year by Deceber 2021. Current data is here: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm It's about 62k deaths from synthetic opioids/year (excluding methadone) at the end of the series-- the vast majority of these are fentanyl. Plus a bunch of heroin deaths which are rapidly becoming "really fentanyl" deaths. And that's up to April, not December.
- jeffbee 5y ago
  That data is for all ages. If you go to WISQARS and filter for ages 18-45, which is the subject of the news site's article, it looks to me like the numbers they are giving in the article are the same as the total number of accidental poisoning.
  - mlyle 5y ago
    They're pulling from this fact sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S0szR2Ua9v0Sr91YhDD7gPrXsDkHxDvP/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S0szR2Ua9v0Sr91YhDD7gPrXsDk... Topic 1 is on ages 18-45: more deaths from fentanyl than from... The later topics are on all ages. The fact sheet attributes 24k deaths in the age range to fentanyl in 2019. WISQARS accidental injuries from poisoning in the age range were 38k in 2019. 2/3rds in that age range being fentanyl is totally plausible. https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D157;jsessionid=7A04C7DC8D17F0A5FA2103363BB7 https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D157;jsessioni... has the broken down data. They have 36,907 deaths in 2020 from 18-45 with T40.4-- "other synthetic opioids excluding methadone". FAF is calling all deaths from synthetic opioids fentanyl, which isn't quite true but it's very likely close to true.

woodruffw 5y ago

Government data does not say that. The CDC recorded 100k drug overdose deaths in 2020[1], ~75% of which were from opioids. They don't have a breakdown of how many of those 75k opioid deaths were fentanyl, but it's an order of magnitude below just the confirmed number of COVID-19 deaths in 2020[2]. Edit: The reporting in this article is remarkably bad: it confuses a two-year range (Jan-2020 to Dec-2021) with a one-year range, and itself contains a number that's nowhere near the number of COVID deaths: > The drug has taken just shy of 80,000 people's lives between January 2020 and December 2021. [1]: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2021/20211117.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2021/... [2]: https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20211122/us-covid-deaths-2021-surpass-2020-total https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20211122/us-covid-deaths-202...

mlyle 5y ago
I agree the report makes its point poorly and phrases statistics carelessly, but you made a similar mistake: they explicitly state it exceeds COVID deaths over ages 18-45. All these media reports were all influenced by this underlying factsheet from FAF. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S0szR2Ua9v0Sr91YhDD7gPrXsDkHxDvP/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S0szR2Ua9v0Sr91YhDD7gPrXsDk... Broadly, it appears true: fentanyl deaths look like they outweigh all those things in the younger population. And it doesn't look implausible that synthetic opioids could have killed a total of 64k across the entire population in 2021. (I think they were comparing trailing-twelve-month data from two dates in each case..) edit, 3mins: I was distracted and my previous version of this reply was word salad.
- woodruffw 5y ago
  Thanks for linking the factsheet. These deaths are a useless tragedy, and it frustrates me to see them framed against another useless tragedy. The CDC's death count with age breakdowns[1] shows that over twice as many people aged 18-64 died of COVID-19 than drug overdoes, combined across 2020 and 2021. That flips when you limit it to just 18-45, which is the statistic FAF is using. [1]: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm#SexAndAge https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm#Se...

arcticbull 5y ago

> "The synthetic and highly addictive drug" Funny use of the word 'synthetic' to add extra spookiness. Something like 60% of first-world medicines are natural origin or secondary metabolites of natural origin - the other 40% are all synthetic. [1] [1] https://www.spandidos-publications.com/10.3892/br.2017.909 https://www.spandidos-publications.com/10.3892/br.2017.909

jimmygrapes 5y ago
I wondered this myself, since they usually spell out "synthetic opioid" when referring to fentanyl and its ilk, ostensibly to compare it against naturally derived opioids. I have no idea how many in use today are naturally derived; maybe "synthetic" was always a scare term on that context?
- philipkglass 5y ago
  The only two opioids naturally found in the poppy that are also used in medicine are codeine and morphine. All others are semi-synthetic (chemical modifications of poppy alkaloids) or fully synthetic. Even most codeine is made by methylating morphine, since the poppy under-produces it relative to medical demand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opioid#Semisynthetic_and_synthetic_opioids https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opioid#Semisynthetic_and_synth...
- worik 5y ago
  "Synthetic opioid" is used to describe an opioid not derived from the morphine in the opium poppy (or the codeine in the dried poppy) I am not a doctor: Of the very powerful "powder" drugs heroin is the safest as it has very little effect on the involuntary respiratory system which is the route that opiates take to kill. "Nodding off" on synthetic opiates leads commonly to death (which is why you always prod a sleeping junky - wake up!!) but not so much on heroin. But it is much safer to smoke opium, if you wish to have such a habit. Much less chance of death and disease. So, you cruel, nay, sadistic lawmakers: Legalise opium! But people popping pills are nearly invisible and die quietly - people smoking opium fill up establishments, make funny smells and do not conveniently die off in the corner.....
- 5y ago

intrepidhero 5y ago

Yikes. For ages 18-45, since heart disease and cancer still lead overall but still yikes. https://api.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/dec/23/facebook-posts/fentanyl-deaths-spike-facebook-post-overstates-how/ https://api.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/dec/23/facebook-p...

Bud 5y ago

Not to be unkind, but a local TV station as a primary source for such a sweeping conclusion on a very complex issue is, well, basically worthless.

TrispusAttucks 5y ago

[1] The person that many hold accountable for the opioid crisis was made head of the FDA by the Biden administration on his first day! [2] Most fentanyl (+ precursors) is manufactured in China and then comes across the southern border from Mexico. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/28/fda-janet-woodcock-opioids-biden https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/28/fda-janet-wo... [2] (PDF) https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-03/DEA_GOV_DIR-008-20%20Fentanyl%20Flow%20in%20the%20United%20States_0.pdf https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-03/DEA_GOV_DIR-...

sneak 5y ago

A reminder: tobacco use kills 7x as many people every day, week, month, and year as opiates in the USA. If opiate deaths are a problem, tobacco ones are a 7x larger problem.

mike00632 5y ago

>“ The synthetic and highly addictive drug has claimed more lives than COVID-19, auto crashes, gun violence, cancer and suicide in the year 2020.” To be clear, this is false. Fentanyl overdoses (according to that article) have killed about 80,000 people in a year in the US whereas COVID-19 has killed more than 386,000. It's nowhere close. And that is not to mention all of the people COVID-19 has permanently disabled. I know the article has some quantifiers elsewhere that could be used to form a true statement if included. But as stated, that is false and it's being used to mislead people into think COVID-19 isn't that serious.