Chicago’s Rising Fentanyl Problem: A Randox Toxicology Report
Chicago’s Rising Fentanyl Problem: A Randox Toxicology Report
Chicago’s Rising Fentanyl Problem: A Randox Toxicology Report
Abuse of opioids, and in particular, fentanyl, has been on the rise in the United States in recent years. The number of patients being prescribed painkillers has almost quadrupled since the 90s from 76 million to 289 million in 2016. It has been described as a uniquely American problem, where pain relief prescriptions are about 40% higher than other developed countries.
Inevitably due to the high addiction rate of opioids, this has unfortunately led to increasing overdose deaths. In 2017 alone over 70,000 people died from drug overdoses in the USA with opioids being involved in 67.8% of cases.
Chicago Illinois is no exception to this crisis. The National Institute of Drug Abuse found that Illinois has a rate of 17.2 deaths per 100,000 people from opioid overdoses, compared to the national average of 14.6. It is not only prescription painkillers that are adding to the opioid addiction crisis in Chicago, but substances such as fentanyl that is illegally sold on the street.
Fentanyl is a cheaper, synthetic opioid which can be 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. It is commonly added to heroin to increase strength and cut costs. Many users believe they are purchasing heroin when in fact it can be mostly fentanyl, resulting in rising overdose deaths. The DEA’s Chicago lab have stated that the drug is making up a more of their workload than ever and becoming a regular drug they see.
Randox Toxicology
Randox Toxicology are world leaders in drug testing solutions with the capability of detecting over 500 drug and drug metabolites using our innovative Biochip Array Technology – the most comprehensive on the drug testing market. Using our revolutionary patented Biochip Array Technology, the Evidence MultiSTAT is a fully automated benchtop analyzer that enables on-site simultaneous detection of up to 21 classical, prescription and synthetic drugs of abuse from a single sample.
Designed to work across a variety of matrices including; whole blood, urine, and oral fluid our patented multi-analyte testing platform provides a complete and highly accurate toxicology profile in 17-20 minutes. Most impressively the MultiSTAT has been designed to be fully operated from sample input to results output by someone with absolutely no laboratory experience and in any environment.
To find out more about our Biochip Array Technology and our Evidence Series range of analysers, visit www.randoxtoxicology.com or email info@randoxtoxicology.com
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Drug Use in Australia: A Randox Toxicology Report
19 March 2020
Drug Use in Australia
Drug Use in Australia: A Randox Toxicology Report
Approximately 43% of all Australians aged 14 years and over have admitted to using an illicit drug on at least one occasion throughout their life.
Additionally, nearly 16% of Australians have confessed to using an illicit drug at least once in the last year.
Cannabis is the most frequent drug used among the Australian people with an estimate of 35% lifetime use. The closest to this is MDMA which has an estimate of around 11% lifetime use.
A reason towards the high cannabis use may be due to the Australian Capital Territory legalizing the recreational possession and cultivation of marijuana in September 2019. This now allows any residents of the capital territory over the age of 18 to possess up to 50 grams of dried marijuana and grow two plants per person or four per household at a time. The supply of the drug to other people however still remains an illegal act.
It is estimated that approximately 60 per cent of those who use illicit drugs are also daily smokers and/or consume alcohol at a level that is considered to be of risk to their everyday health. Another noticeable finding among drug users in Australia is that the majority of methamphetamine, cocaine or ecstasy users are also users of other illicit drugs.
Using our revolutionary Biochip Array Technology, the Evidence MultiSTAT is a fully automated benchtop analyser that enables onsite, simultaneous testing for up to 21 classical, synthetic or prescription drugs from a single sample in under 20 minutes.
To find out more about our Biochip Array Technology and our Evidence Series range of analysers, visit www.randoxtoxicology.com or email info@randoxtoxicology.com
Randox Toxicology Products and Services
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Illicit drugs costs the USA more than $740 billion annually
18 February 2020
Illicit drugs affecting the US economy
Illicit drugs costs the USA more than $740 billion annually
The abuse of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs is extremely costly to the USA, exacting more than $740 billion annually in costs related to crime, lost work productivity and health care, according to a report by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
A substantial number of 70,237 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States in 2017. Opioids are currently the main driver of drug overdose deaths. Opioids were involved in some 47,600 overdose deaths in 2017 (67.8% of all drug overdose deaths).
In 2017, the states with the highest rates of death due to drug overdose were West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, and Kentucky. States with statistically significant increases in drug overdose death rates from 2016 to 2017 included Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Randox Toxicology are first to market when it comes to testing for the latest drugs of abuse and new psychoactive substances on the market. Our revolutionary Biochip Array Technology provides state-of-the-art drug detection, utilizing simultaneous drug detection from a single sample across multiple matrices.
To find out more join us at AAFS February 17-22, Anaheim Convention Center, booth #508. Our reps Pankaj, Khushbu and Matt will be there demonstrating our Biochip technology and our Evidence MultiSTAT.
You can also email us at: info@randoxtoxicology.com or visit our website: www.randoxtoxicology.com
Randox Toxicology Products and Services
BIOCHIP
EVIDENCE
ELISA
MATRICES
Want to know more about Randox?
Contact us or visit our homepage to view more.