International News Opinons Politics

Opioid Deaths Rise in Towns Where U.S. Auto Plants Have Closed

Opioid deaths sharply rise in American communities where multinational automakers have closed their United States plants and outsourced those jobs to foreign countries, the latest medical study confirms.

The study by acclaimed researchers, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, notes that American communities that experienced an auto plant closure within the last five years saw a much greater rate of opioid deaths than communities whose auto plants have remained open — confirming that towns and small cities that have been hit by job-killing free trade have suffered more in the opioid crisis.

Opioid deaths sharply rise in American communities where multinational automakers have closed their United States plants and outsourced those jobs to foreign countries, the latest medical study confirms.



Scott Bessent Shuts Down Democratic Rep During Hearing: ‘It Would Be Detrimental to the Interests of the US to Answer That Question’
Blue state governor vows ‘resistance’ as Trump admin targets sanctuary policies
Stefanik grills university president over disciplinary action on campus antisemitism
WATCH LIVE: Trump swears in David Perdue as ambassador to China
Former USPS Employee Folds in Court, Admits Part in Scheme to Steal and Cast Ballots
USA Fencing offers to ban transgender competitors
Cardinals enter Sistine Chapel for papal conclave under total digital lockdown
New travel rules, same confusion: ‘REAL ID’ raises questions, concerns among college-aged travelers
Epstein Doc Bombshell: US Senator Confirms the Worst, Says They’re Gone
Trump Offers to Help Obama with Presidential Library ‘Disaster’
Trump pushes to reopen Alcatraz, but Pelosi and Newsom dismiss it as a ‘distraction’
United Airlines planes in San Francisco clip wings
Cardinals celebrate final Mass before conclave to elect 267th pope begins
Cardinals gather for conclave to choose new pope and more top headlines
Gov. DeSantis Announces Ban on Fluoride Additives in Public Water

See also  Cardinals enter Sistine Chapel for papal conclave under total digital lockdown

The study by acclaimed researchers, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, notes that American communities that experienced an auto plant closure within the last five years saw a much greater rate of opioid deaths than communities whose auto plants have remained open — confirming that towns and small cities that have been hit by job-killing free trade have suffered more in the opioid crisis.

The researchers note:

US manufacturing counties that experienced an automotive assembly plant closure were compared with counties in which automotive plants remained open from 1999 to 2016. Automotive assembly plant closures were associated with a statistically significant increase in county-level opioid overdose mortality rates among adults aged 18 to 65 years. [Emphasis added]

The study’s findings reveal that five years after a community’s auto plant closed, opioid deaths increased by 85 percent compared to communities whose auto plants have not closed.

Non-Hispanic white men, ages 18 to 34, are the hardest hit by the opioid crisis in these communities that have suffered an economic downturn due to outsourced auto manufacturing. Non-Hispanic white men from 35 to 65-years-old also are at a much greater risk of opioid death in these towns than other demographic groups, the study discovered.

Overall, the study looked at 112 American counties near auto plants from 1999 to 2016. About 28 of these counties experienced an auto plant closure in that time frame — a direct result of China’s entering the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the enactment of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

See also  Elon’s exit: Lessons in government-cutting as Musk prepares to step back


Scott Bessent Shuts Down Democratic Rep During Hearing: ‘It Would Be Detrimental to the Interests of the US to Answer That Question’
Blue state governor vows ‘resistance’ as Trump admin targets sanctuary policies
Stefanik grills university president over disciplinary action on campus antisemitism
WATCH LIVE: Trump swears in David Perdue as ambassador to China
Former USPS Employee Folds in Court, Admits Part in Scheme to Steal and Cast Ballots
USA Fencing offers to ban transgender competitors
Cardinals enter Sistine Chapel for papal conclave under total digital lockdown
New travel rules, same confusion: ‘REAL ID’ raises questions, concerns among college-aged travelers
Epstein Doc Bombshell: US Senator Confirms the Worst, Says They’re Gone
Trump Offers to Help Obama with Presidential Library ‘Disaster’
Trump pushes to reopen Alcatraz, but Pelosi and Newsom dismiss it as a ‘distraction’
United Airlines planes in San Francisco clip wings
Cardinals celebrate final Mass before conclave to elect 267th pope begins
Cardinals gather for conclave to choose new pope and more top headlines
Gov. DeSantis Announces Ban on Fluoride Additives in Public Water

The study comes as automakers like General Motors (GM) have idled plants in Lordstown, Ohio and laid off American workers in Detroit, Michigan. Thousands of Americans who worked for GM have been laid off in the process as the corporation continues closing four of its U.S. plants.

See also  Back to the Beltway: DC grapples with return to work

As Breitbart News has reported, the opioid crisis continues to most significantly take the lives of young white Americans between 25 to 34-years-old living in suburbs. In 2017, young white Americans in suburbs had the highest rate of opioid deaths compared to all demographic groups — the second consecutive year this has occurred.

Last year, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency seized enough fentanyl to kill nearly twice the U.S. population. For the first time, Americans are now more likely to die from an accidental opioid overdose than from injuries in a car crash.

Drug overdoses in 2017 killed an unprecedented 72,287 U.S. residents, nearly three times the number of individuals killed by global terrorism and 10,000 more than the number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War. Nearly 50,000 of those deadly overdoses were caused by either heroin or fentanyl.

Story cited here.

Share this article:
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter