Deaths due to drug overdoses continue to increase in the country after registering more than 72,000 cases in 2017, a figure that reflects an increase of more than 6,000 deaths, almost 10%, according to a preliminary report reported today by national media .
Specifically, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 72,287 people died in 2017 from an overdose of drugs, of which 49,060 were opioids in general.
The increase in deaths during the year 2017 has been dominated by the high rates of cases of overdoses due to synthetic opiates, such as fentanyl, which totaled 29,418, about 9,000 more than the previous year and well above the second drug that more deaths has generated, the heroin, which registered 15,950 cases.
West Virginia, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland are the top-ranked areas where more deaths from overdoses have been recorded, while Nebraska has the lowest percentages, while Massachusetts and Vermont have seen significant declines, according to the CDC study.
This report is released in the context of an opioid crisis in the country, where more than four million Americans are addicted to prescription painkillers – of which 250,000 are adolescents – and overdose has become the most common cause. of violent death, above traffic accidents or weapons, according to the DEA.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, declared in 2017 the crisis of opiates a national public health emergency and allocated a fund of 1,000 million dollars to address the problem.
