USA Today (11/2, Jansen) reported that according to an analysis conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, prescription drugs such as “opioids were responsible for the most overdose deaths of any illicit drugs since 2001.” Data also show “heroin-related deaths nearly doubled from 2013 to 2016, a trend exacerbated by the mixing of heroin with fentanyl and other synthetic drugs.” The article said that according to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, although the 164-page DEA analysis “covered statistics mostly through 2016, preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that overdose deaths began to decline last year, with opioid prescriptions falling significantly.”
The AP (11/2, Balsamo) reported that the analysis revealed drug overdose deaths reached “the highest level ever recorded in the United States last year, with an estimated 200 people dying per day.” Overall, some “72,000 people died in 2017 from drug overdoses across the country,” according to preliminary data. Recently, HHS Secretary Alex Azar “said overdose deaths, while still slowly rising, were beginning to level off, citing figures from late last year and early this year.”
Related Links:
— “Opioid crisis: DEA data show spike in deaths led by prescription drugs, heroin and synthetics such as fentanyl, “Bart Jansen, USA Today, November 02, 2018.