Drug overdose
A drug overdose (overdose or OD) is the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities much greater than are recommended. and
intoxication
Intoxication — or poisoning, especially by an alcoholic or narcotic substance — may refer to:
* Substance intoxication:
** Alcohol intoxication
** LSD intoxication
** Toxidrome
** Tobacco intoxication
** Cannabis intoxication
** Cocaine i ...
are significant causes of accidental death, and can also be used as a form of
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
. Death can occur from overdosing on a single or multiple drugs, or from
combined drug intoxication
Combined drug intoxication (CDI), or multiple drug intake (MDI), is a cause of death by drug overdose from poly drug use, often implicated in polysubstance dependence.
Deaths by combined drug intoxication are relatively rare (one in several mil ...
(CDI) due to
poly drug use
Polysubstance use or poly drug use or refers to the use of combined psychoactive substances. Polysubstance use may be used for entheogenic, recreational, or off-label indications, with both legal and illegal substances. In many cases one d ...
. Poly drug use often carries more risk than use of a single drug, due to an increase in side effects, and
drug synergy
Synergy is an interaction or cooperation giving rise to a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts. The term ''synergy'' comes from the Attic Greek word συνεργία ' from ', , meaning "working together".
History
In Christian ...
. For example, the chance of death from overdosing on
opiate
An opiate, in classical pharmacology, is a substance derived from opium. In more modern usage, the term ''opioid'' is used to designate all substances, both natural and synthetic, that bind to opioid receptors in the brain (including antagonis ...
s is greatly increased when they are consumed in conjunction with alcohol.
While they are two distinct phenomena, deaths from CDI are often misreported as overdoses. Drug overdoses and intoxication can also cause indirect deaths. For example, while
marijuana
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...
does not cause fatal overdoses, being intoxicated by it can increase the chance of fatal
traffic collisions.
Drug use and overdoses increased significantly in the 1800s due to the commercialization and availability of certain drugs. For example, while
opium
Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...
and
coca
Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine.
The plant is grown as a cash crop in the Argentine Northwest, Bolivia, Al ...
had been used for centuries, their
active ingredient
An active ingredient is any ingredient that provides biologically active or other direct effect in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease or to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or animals. T ...
s, morphine and the cocaine alkaloid, were not isolated until 1803 and 1855 respectively.
Cocaine and various opiates were subsequently mass-produced and sold openly and legally in the
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and state (polity), states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania. , resulting in widespread misuse and addiction. Drug use and addiction also increased significantly following the invention of the hypodermic
syringe
A syringe is a simple reciprocating pump consisting of a plunger (though in modern syringes, it is actually a piston) that fits tightly within a cylindrical tube called a barrel. The plunger can be linearly pulled and pushed along the inside ...
in 1853, with overdose being a leading cause of death among intravenous drug users.
Efforts to
prohibit various drugs began to be enacted in the early 20th century, though the
effectiveness of such policies is debated. Deaths from drug overdoses are increasing. Between 2000 and 2014, fatal overdoses rose 137% in the United States, causing nearly half a million deaths in that period, and have also been continually increasing in Australia,
Scotland, England, and Wales.
While prohibited drugs are generally viewed as being the most dangerous, the misuse of
prescription drug
A prescription drug (also prescription medication or prescription medicine) is a pharmaceutical drug that legally requires a medical prescription to be dispensed. In contrast, over-the-counter drugs can be obtained without a prescription. The rea ...
s is linked to more deaths in several countries.
[ Cocaine and heroin combined caused fewer deaths than prescriptions drugs in the United Kingdom in 2013, and fewer deaths than prescription opiates alone in the United States in 2008. , the drug most likely to cause fatal overdose in Australia was ]diazepam
Diazepam, first marketed as Valium, is a medicine of the benzodiazepine family that acts as an anxiolytic. It is commonly used to treat a range of conditions, including anxiety, seizures, alcohol withdrawal syndrome, muscle spasms, insomnia, a ...
(Valium).[ While fatal overdoses are highly associated with drugs such as opiates, cocaine and alcohol,][ deaths from other drugs such as ]caffeine
Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine class. It is mainly used recreationally as a cognitive enhancer, increasing alertness and attentional performance. Caffeine acts by blocking binding of adenosine t ...
are extremely rare.
This alphabetical list contains 621 notable people whose deaths can be reliably sourced to be the result of drug overdose or acute drug intoxication. Where sources indicate drug overdose or intoxication was only suspected to be the cause of death, this will be specified in the 'notes' column. Where sources are able to indicate, deaths are specified as 'suicide', 'accidental', 'undetermined', or otherwise in the 'cause' column. Where sources do not explicitly state intent, they will be listed in this column as 'unknown'. Deaths from accidents or misadventure caused by drug overdoses or intoxication are also included on this list. Deaths from long-term effects of drugs, such as tobacco-related cancers and cirrhosis
Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue repai ...
from alcohol, are not included, nor are deaths from lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...
or legal euthanasia.
Deaths
See also
* List of deaths through alcohol
This is a list of the most notable people in :Alcohol-related deaths, Alcohol-related deaths who died of Long-term effects of alcohol , short- and/or long-term effects of alcohol consumption. Deaths caused indirectly by alcohol (drug) ...
* Lists of people by cause of death
This is an index of lists of people by cause of death, in alphabetical order of cause.
* Deaths due to the Chernobyl disaster (including list of victims)
*List of fatalities from aviation accidents
*List of deaths through alcohol
*List of deaths f ...
* List of deaths from legal euthanasia and assisted suicide
Euthanasia is the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering, while assisted suicide, also known as physician-assisted suicide, is suicide committed with the aid of a physician. Assisted suicide is often confused ...
* List of people executed by lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person by a government for the express purpose of causing immediate death. While Nazi Germany was known to execute enemies of the state using an injection of lethal drugs, th ...
* Opioid epidemic
The opioid epidemic, also referred to as the opioid crisis, is the rapid increase in the overuse, misuse/abuse, and overdose deaths attributed either in part or in whole to the class of drugs opiates/opioids since the 1990s. It includes the sign ...
* United States drug overdose death rates and totals over time
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has data on drug overdose death rates and totals. Over 1,106,000 US residents died from drug overdoses from 1968 to 2020. Over 932,000 from 1999 through 2020. Over 91,000 in 2020. 28 peo ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Drug-Related Deaths
*list
Drug-related lists
Drug overdose
Lists of people by cause of death