Deaths from drug overdoses reached a record high in 2019, with over 35 states reporting an increase in overdose deaths, compared to only 13 states that saw a decline, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics released preliminary data on 2019 overdose deaths on Wednesday, showing that the United States had 70,980 deaths caused by a drug overdose in 2019, surpassing the previous record high set in 2017, when there were 70,699 overdose deaths. The number of overdose deaths previously dropped by 5.1% in 2018, with 68,557 overdose deaths.
The CDC notes that “Provisional data are based on available records that meet certain data quality criteria at the time of analysis and may not include all deaths that occurred during a given time period. Therefore, they should not be considered comparable with final data and are subject to change.”
More than half of all the projected overdose deaths in 2019 involved fentanyl or another synthetic opioid, while deaths related to cocaine and methamphetamines also rose.
According to CNN, “Opioid prescribing has dropped since the CDC issued opioid prescribing guidelines in early 2016, which resulted both in doctors prescribing fewer opioids as well as insurers providing less coverage for opioids. Many experts have pointed to the overprescribing of painkillers as the root of the US opioid crisis, but say it then evolved into a heroin crisis and a fentanyl crisis.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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