Washington Post, Dec/16: "Six facts about dying young"

An excerpt:

"2. Prescription drugs play a powerful role in the crisis. And it’s not just opioids. A third of white women who have died of opioid overdose since 1999 also had anti-anxiety drugs known as benzodiazepines in their bloodstreams — a potentially deadly combination, The Post found. Read more about opioids and benzos.

White women who take opioids are particularly likely to be prescribed additional drugs to manage the symptoms of long-term opioid use, The Post found. In addition to anti-anxiety medication, they might get drugs to help them sleep or to ease a condition known as “opioid-induced constipation.” A Post analysis found that nearly 6 in 10 working-age women who take opioids have three or more additional prescriptions. Read more about follow-on prescriptions.

Meanwhile, The Post found that the suicide rate has risen alongside prescriptions for anti-depressants and other psychiatric drugs, which are often ineffective. “Multiple drugs overload the system in ways we can’t predict,” said Rene Muller, a psychologist at Johns Hopkins."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/six-facts-about-dying-young/2016/12/29/457eec72-cc50-11e6-a87f-b917067331bb_story.html