Statewide Iowa – Iowa is mirroring the national trend with a slight drop in deaths due to alcohol, drugs, and suicide, according to a report from a non-partisan public health policy organization. Dr. Nadine Gracia, president and CEO of Trust for America’s Health, says figures for 2022 show the first substantial drop in those deaths in five years, though there’s still much work to be done. She says the long-term trend is still alarmingly high.
Over the past two decades, the study finds deaths from alcohol, drugs, and suicide in the U.S. increased by 142 percent. Gracia says drug overdoses, in particular, rose relentlessly in the past ten years as synthetic opioids gained in popularity. She says rural residents appear to be especially at risk.
In the report, “Pain in the Nation 2024: the Epidemic of Alcohol, Drug, and Suicide Deaths,” researchers found a slight drop in the combined rate of alcohol, drug, and suicide deaths, but that rate is still more than double what it was 20 years ago. Gracia points to a lack of access to treatment options.
To save lives, she says more work needs to be done to implement prevention and harm reduction strategies, and to ensure access to mental and behavioral health care. https://www.tfah.org/report-details/pain-in-the-nation-2024/
Trust for America’s Health graphic (from Radio Iowa)
