經濟合作與發展組織–阿片類藥物之危機已散佈跨越美國
資料來源：路透社，2019年5月17日，財團法人台灣紅絲帶基金會編譯
巴黎（路透社）=經濟合作與發展組織（OECD）富裕國家俱樂部周四表示，阿片類藥物的使用不僅僅只在美國，而且在加拿大和一些歐洲國家已經達到了危機的程度，因為阿片類止痛藥處方變得更加普遍。
到目前為止，阿片類藥物流行的問題主要集中在美國，經合組織表示，1999年至2017年期間有近40萬人因服用過量而死亡，導致60多年來首次預期壽命降低。
經濟合作與發展組織在一份報告中說：「但美國絕不是唯一單獨面對這場危機的國家」。
總部位於巴黎的政策論壇表示，與阿片類藥物使用有關的死亡人數在瑞典、挪威、愛爾蘭、英格蘭和威爾斯也急劇上升。
經濟合作與發展組織表示，2016年1月至2018年9月期間，加拿大報告了10,000多例與阿片類藥物有關的死亡案例，死亡率從每10萬人有8.4人增加到11.8人。在2011年至2016年期間，與阿片類藥物有關的死亡人數在25個成員國中上升了20％以上，經合組織有數據顯示，阿片類緩解疼痛的藥物已經變得更加普遍。
「阿片類藥物過度處方被認為是此危機最重要的根源之一」，經合組織在報告中說。
「藥物製造商對疼痛管理的影響被認為是重要的，透過主要是針對醫生和患者的營銷活動，壓低淡化了阿片類藥物問題上的影響」，經合組織補充說。
經濟合作與發展組織表示，良好的監管規範至關重要，因為德國、奧地利、比利時、丹麥和荷蘭等一些國家設法透過管理使處方阿片類止痛藥更容易獲得並避免導致更高的藥物過量死亡率。
Opioids Crisis Has Spread Beyond United States – OECD By Reuters Staff , May 17, 2019, 
PARIS (Reuters) = Opioid use has reached crisis proportions not only in the United States but also in Canada and some European countries, as prescription opioid painkillers have become much more common, the OECD club of wealthy nations said on Thursday.
So far the opioid epidemic has focused largely on the United States, where the OECD said nearly 400,000 people died of overdoses between 1999 and 2017, resulting in the lowering of overall life expectancy for the first in more than 60 years.
“The United States is by no means alone in facing this crisis,” the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report.
The Paris-based policy forum said deaths linked to opioid use were also rising sharply in Sweden, Norway, Ireland, and England and Wales.
Canada reported more than 10,000 opioid-related deaths between January 2016 and September 2018, with rates increasing from 8.4 per 100,000 people to 11.8 over the period, the OECD said. Between 2011 and 2016, opioid-related deaths rose more than 20 percent in 25 member countries for which the OECD had data as opioid pain-relief drugs have become more common.
“Opioid over-prescribing is considered one of the most important root causes of the crisis,” the OECD said in the report.
“The influence of pharmaceutical manufacturers on pain management has been considered significant, by conducting marketing campaigns targeted mainly at physicians and patients, downplaying the problematic effect of opioids,” it added.
The OECD said that good regulation was critical because some countries, like Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands, had managed to make prescription opioid painkillers more available without leading to higher overdose death rates.