Credit: jedmorey.com
Fatal drug overdoses reached a new high in 2014, killing more than half a million Americans, more than were killed in auto accidents, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Twice as many Americans died from drug overdoses in 2014 as in 2000.
Most of the deaths involved heroin or prescription narcotic painkillers like OxyContin. These drugs accounted for 28,647 deaths in 2014, or 61 percent of the overdose deaths. Deaths from heroin and narcotic painkillers increased 14 percent last year, to nine per 100,000 from 7.9, according to the C.D.C. (emphasis added)
Men and women of all races and ethnic groups and nearly all ages were affected by drug overdoses, but the national numbers were affected mainly by increases in deaths in 14 states: Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and […]
Headline and lead are wrong. Based on the following statement about heroin and oxycontin in the article, the total of overdose deaths comes to 46, 962: “These drugs accounted for 28,647 deaths in 2014, or 61 percent of the overdose deaths.”