Palm Trees

Drug-Related Suicides: A Preventable Death

Any instance of a person taking his or her own life is something that reverberates through the family, the community and even the nation. Families of the victims often wonder what led to such a drastic choice and how it could have been prevented. When it is discovered that a drug was related, the reaction can be even more heart-wrenching, knowing it could have been prevented.

In the case of a drug overdose, either intentional or unintentional, the drug has essentially poisoned the victim’s body. Data for 2005 reveals that 5,833 poisoning deaths, or 18 percent of the 32,691 the total poisoning deaths for that year, were intentional. Of those, 5,744 were suicides.

Those drugs that are used most often in suicides include psychoactive drugs, such as sedatives and antidepressants, followed by opiates and prescription pain medications. According to the Centers for Disease Control, those who committed suicide in 2008 by way of drug overdose were 1.3 times more likely to be men than women; were 3.6 times more likely to be white than black; and the peak age was 45-49 years old.

But drug-related suicides are not all a result of a drug overdose. The other risk lies in the suicidal tendencies that arise due to the impact the drug has on the mental state of the person. Research into this phenomenon published in the British J. of Psychiatry (BJP) determined that drugs such as psychotropic drugs increase the suicide rate in patients suffering from schizophrenia by as much as 20 times.

 

As a result of government-sponsored research, the FDA is now warning users of antiepileptic drugs that are used to treat patients with epilepsy. According to Dr. Russell Katz, director of the division of neurology products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, those patients being treated with these drugs should be closely monitored for any indication for the emergence or worsening of depression, suicidal thoughts or behavior.  

The FDA slaps “black box” warnings on drugs that are proven to have serious or even life-threatening side effects. Those widely used medications that have these warnings include such drugs as clonazepam (Klonopin), phenytoin (Dilantin) and topiramte (Topamax). This warning is the strongest warning that the FDA uses to alert consumers as to the potential dangers of a drug.

Exacerbating the dangers associated with these drugs and their improper use is the ease in which they can be acquired. While many suicide victims are taking the prescribed medicine under a doctor’s care, there are still many others that acquire the medications through illegal means.

A simple visit to the Internet can provide access to a world of illegal drugs. What is not always apparent is that many of these drugs are not the exact same formula as their legal counterparts, which can pose an even greater risk to the individual seeking to use the drug.

Drug-related suicides, whether the result of an overdose or death by other means under the influence of the drug, can be prevented; but this prevention is difficult. For one, it is very difficult to effectively monitor someone taking prescription drugs. Second, the drugs are too easily acquired and used, putting a victim at risk before signs are apparent. An ongoing problem, it is those hurt by these deaths that are working the hardest for a solution.