Gen Xers Have Died From Overdose at Alarming Rates.
Gen Xers Have Died From Overdose at Alarming Rates.
Naming something has power. Without names, people disappear into numbers and systems look away.
At the end of this article is an important announcement about the use of AI. Thank you for reading it.
Making the Case: Gen X Hit Hardest by Overdose Crisis
Generation X has lived through many terrible things, which is something that can be said of every generation because if humans are anything they are destructive.
Life began for all Gen-Xers during the greatest anti-child phase in human history and progressed through a persistent forgotteness that rendered us culturally invisible. The price we paid for being pretty much nameless (not just Gen X but “so-called Gen X”) was high.
In addition to the personal traumas many in our generation endured including broken homes, absent fathers and a level of underprotection that led to startling rates of childhood sexual assault, there were the national and global things. The aftermath of Vietnam and the Cold War. The AIDS Epidemic and the Challenger Explosion. Lockerbie. My God, Lockerbie.
The list goes on: The Oklahoma City Bombing. The L.A. Riots. Columbine. 9/11. Endless war basically amounting to World War III. Also, the Great Recession. And, let’s not forget the less injurious student loan debt, predatory lending, bad mortages and the housing collapse. I’m leaving many things out, so please feel free to add to the list in the comments.
My point in recalling these trials and tragedies is to tell you that nothing in my life has shocked me more than the Opioid Crisis. Not even the pandemic. It’s not that the crisis was inherently worse than what happened on April 19, 1995 or September 11, 2001. It’s that by the time McVeigh blew up the Federal Building, I was already steeled to the idea of terrorism.
What Is Really Going On Here?
In contrast, no part of me could imagine that in just six short years, more than 350,000 Americans would die of overdose, lives ushered to their graves by the Grim Reaper of Systemic Greed. Watching The Pharmacist and Painkiller and several other documentaries and films about the crisis introduced me to a different kind of evil, not one cloaked in camouflage or keffiyeh, but white lab coats, blue scrubs and Brooks Brothers. It changed what I thought about many things. And it led me to the one question I will be asking every day for the rest of my life: What is really going on here?
Splitting Hairs
It’s that question that gnawed at me to research this conclusion: Generation X has been hit hardest in the third wave of the overdose crisis. Admittedly, I have nearly split hairs to come to this conclusion, but I think it’s important just the same. I would be remiss, however, not to mention that Millennials have had extraordinarily high overdose rates and likely within just a few percentage points of Generation X.
Also, I have not had a chance to research the first and second waves. Also, please note, in all my research I follow the birth years for generations as defined by Strauss and Howe. That is 1961-1981 for Generation X and 1982-2004 for Millennials.
For clarification:
- The first wave was 1999-2010, prescription opioids.
- The second wave was 2010-2013, heroin.
- The third wave is 2013-present, primarily fentanly.
What does the data reveal?
According to an article by David Powell, Ph.D., Educational Attainment and US Drug Overdose Deaths, in 2022, overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids were highest among adults aged 35-44 and 45-54. Both of these groups at the time included Gen-Xers born between 1961 to 1981. In fact, when you combined those two age groups, nearly two-thirds of the people were born between 1968 and 1981.
Because death certificates don’t include birth years, but the person’s age at the time of death, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) does not crunch data by generations, the boundaries for which are subjective anyway.
What about Gen-Xers who were older than 54 in 2022?
It gets complicated, so please stay with me because this is important. Gen-Xers born between 1961 and 1967 were between 55-61 years of age when the overdose crisis peaked in 2022. They are counted by the CDC in an age bracket that spans 55 to 64. So, all but three years in this age bracket are Gen-Xers.
In 2023, the overdose rates for this group was 49.2 per 100,000. Here are the rates for all groups.
- In 2023, the birth years for the age group 35-44 were 1979-1988. This age bracket includes Gen-Xers born between 1979-1981.
- In 2023, the birth years for the age group 45-54 were 1969-1978. This age bracket includes all Gen-Xers.
- In 2023, the birth years for the age group 55-64 were 1959-1968. This age bracket includes Gen-Xers born between 1961-1968.
The Takeaway
Here is the takeaway. Although younger Gen-Xers had higher rates of overdose, the oldest Gen-Xers were badly affected by the crisis. This is compounded by the fact many had longer histories of drug exposure and use.
2020 Study: Opioid Overdose Deaths Peak in Middle Age
According to another study conducted in 2020, Age and Generational Patterns of Overdose Death Risk from Opioids and Other Drugs, opioid overdose deaths peak in middle age versus in younger adults. Although this study is several years old, the trend has continued.
2023 Data Brief
Finally, according to a 2023 data brief from the National Center for Health Statistics, Generation X accounted for the most fentanyl deaths, which accounted for roughly 75 percent of all overdose deaths in 2023.
Critical Framing
The data supports the facts: The majority of people in the 35-54 age range who died of overdose in the third wave were Generation X, placing Xers at the center of the deadly curve. But nobody ever framed it in these generational terms. Nobody thought to mention Generation X was dying. Not even Generation X.
It’s not like studies focusing on health challenges for various generations isn’t common including how they assist in bringing healing. Gen Z and Millennials are credited with destigmatizing mental health problems. Baby Boomers are credited with destigmatized breast cancer along with advancing awareness of the disease.
Another Tired Trope?
This is not another tried trope about Gen X as the forgotten middle child of history being uninvited to a party. This is a critical framing of a crisis that has killed parents, orphaned children, obliterated families and crushed our nation. It’s probably more accurate to say a critical lack of framing.
Also, this is not to say that every generation has not suffered unbelievable loss during the ongoing overdose crisis. The loss of a young person will always be infinitely sadder than the loss of someone who has at least made it to middle age.
Naming
I don’t think all the people fighting the overdose crisis, including researchers, policymakers and public health experts intentionally ignored Generation X. They just didn’t consider Xers as a distinct cohort in their analyses. This is nothing new. Although we were statistically present in all the studies, we were not acknowledged in a way that gave context to what was happening all across the nation: Generation X was overdosing at very high rates.
Would it have made a difference if Generation X had been named as the generation shouldering this national tragedy? I think so, because naming something has power. Without names, people disappear into numbers and systems look away.
Additional Stats
1999-2020
Overdose deaths among middle-aged women rose by more than 500 percent (SOURCE).
2015-2020
Overdose death rates among Black Gen X-age adults (45–54) surged 255 percent. Native Americans and Alaska Natives had the highest per capita death rates nationwide. (SOURCE)
2022
Nearly twice as many men as women aged 45 to 54 died of drug overdose.
2023
CDC report reveals U.S. counties with high poverty rates and limited access to healthcare have experienced a 300 percent rise in middle-aged overdose deaths since 2015.
Fewer Than 10 Percent of Programs Serve Adults Over 40
Doctor please, give me a
Dose of the American Dream
Put down the pen and look in my eyes
We’re in the waiting room
And something ain’t right
All this is on you
We’re over prescribed
“Kevin” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Generation X came of age during six of the anti-drug campaigns published below, specifically those spanning 1971 to the late 1990s. But, tragically, we were blindsided by the assault of prescription opioids.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Generation X entered adulthood and middle age. At the same time, pharmaceutical companies like Purdue Pharma aggressively marketed painkillers like OxyContin. They dispatched drug reps all across the country to “educate” doctors about what they called the fifth vital sign, pain. They told them opioids were safe, effective and underprescribed.
Cashing In, Scurrying Off
Many doctors acted in good faith and began overprescribing these highly addictive drugs. And, not just to people with surgery or injury-related pain, but to people struggling with stress, sleep issues and aging joints. Meanwhile, other doctors outright cashed in on the opportunity and built entire practices around writing prescriptions for opioids.
Still others scurried off from their urban abodes under the dark of night to prescribe opioids to Rural Americans, many of them living in poverty and struggling with the vicissitudes of life. These side gigs were very lucrative for doctors who, to this day, are free from public scrutiny because the number of opioid prescriptions they wrote remain protected from public view.
Eventually, the pill mills were shut down, but Gen Xers, along with people in every generation, were already addicted to opioids.
Unable to get acquire legal prescriptions, many turned to street heroin. By 2013, fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin, flooded the U.S. drug market primarily via three interstate corridors: I-10, I-35 and I-40. From there it spread to every state and community. China and Mexico were supply chain partners.
The drugs were mixed into counterfeit opioids, cocaine, heroin and in rare cases, marijuana. By 2017, fentanyl was the leading cause of overdose deaths in the United States.
National Drug Policies
Since 2015, national drug policies have primarily focused on Gen Z and Millennials, Baby Boomers and Silents. Generation X has been more or less ignored despite being the demographic with the highest overdose rates during most of the opioid crisis. Moreover, a 2023 report on opioid funding revealed that fewer than 10 percent of programs serve adults over 40. The “One Pill Can Kill” campaign, for example, focused on youth.
Today, the overdose crisis continues, but appears to be receding. According to a recent report by the CDC, overdose deaths decreased by nearly 27 percent last year. Tens of thousands still die every year, though, and many of those dying are Generation X.
358,489 Overdose Deaths
2019
2020
2021
%
2022
2023
2024 (Provisional)
Elements of Anti-Drug Public Awareness Campaigns, 1970s-Present
Nixon Declares the War on Drugs, October 1971
First Lady Nancy Reagan Launches Just Say No To Drugs, September 1984
Partnership for a Drug-Free America, 1985-1986
Started in L.A. in 1983; expanded to all 50 states by the late 1980s.
Red Ribbon Week began in 1985; Expanded into the 1990s.
Started in L.A. in 1983; expanded to all 50 states by the late 1980s.
Above the Influence, Late 1990s-2000s
Truth About Opiods, 2018-Present
One Pill Can Kill, 2021-Present
Use of AI
Throughout my 35-year career in public relations and nonprofit management I have worked on several public health issues and campaigns. These have included campaigns to raise awareness about domestic violence; red light running; HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment; COVID-19; suicide prevention, and mental health and substance abuse services treatment and services. I am a founding board member of End Native Overdose, a nonprofit my youngest daughter launched with great success in 2023. In addition, I spearheaded the nation’s first 988 license plate to increase awareness of the mental health crisis and suicide prevention line in Oklahoma.
While I am by no means an expert in public health, I have worked on public health issues for many years as a PR practitioner, nonprofit executive and journalist. I have never needed AI to accomplish my goals or succeed. Nevertheless, I am grateful this tool is now available to me. And it is just that. A tool, just like a typewriter, camera, search engine or thesaurus.
I have always had so many questions about Generation X and AI is helping me answer them as well as summarize and analyze mountains of data. There is no shame in this. AI does not “write” my posts. In fact AI can be unreliable and fact-checking is imperative as are full disclosures and transparency. AI will will never replace my judgement, criticial thinking and most importantly my voice and my heart, which has maintained this blog about Generation X for nearly 20 years. Again, I am not an expert in public health or a statitician. If I get something wrong in this article, please let me know. I have done my best to report my research. Gemini has assisted me, but every single word of this post was written, researched and fact-checked by me. In addition, AI certainly did not format this post. Formatting is extremely time-consuming with the DIVI builder, the software I use. All in all, it took about 24 hours to write and build this post. Thank you for reading this announcement.
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