Drug overdoses led to an estimated 72,287 deaths in the United States last year — that’s about a 10 per cent increase from 2016.
And nearly 200 deaths each day.
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It’s also more deaths than car accidents, HIV or guns have ever caused in a single year, The New York Times reported.
In 1995, an HIV crisis led to 43,000 deaths in a single year, while in 1972, car crashes killed a record 55,000 people in the country.
Numbers released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that of the 72,287 total overdose deaths, 49,000 were related to opioid use.
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Of those opioid overdoses, the biggest culprit was fentanyl, which killed more than 29,000 people in the country.
The CDC numbers aren’t a final tally, as some deaths from the previous year are still under investigation.
States with the most deaths
The report notes that the highest number of deaths took place in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio. The rate of overdoses in each of those states increased more than 17 per cent in 2017 from the previous year.
And in the country overall, overdose deaths continue to rise.
However, some states such as Montana, Vermont, Wyoming and Massachusetts, did see a decline in the number of deaths.
In May, Massachusetts released preliminary numbers that show the number of opioid-related deaths in the state are beginning to decline.
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Trump on opioid crisis
U.S. President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions took on the opioids crisis in a cabinet meeting Thursday, during which Trump asked that a federal lawsuit be filed against some companies that supply and manufacture the drugs.
Trump said he’s directing Sessions to file a separate lawsuit, rather than joining existing lawsuits filed by states affected by the spread of the often-lethal, highly addictive drugs.
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The president also blamed the crisis partly on drugs from China and Mexico, saying those countries are “sending their garbage and killing our people.”
Trump added: “It’s almost a form of warfare.”
It was not immediately clear if or when a federal suit would be filed. Numerous suits have been filed nationwide against distributors and manufacturers in recent months amid the opioid epidemic.
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In March, Trump unveiled a plan to get tough on opioids, including cutting opioid prescriptions by changing federal programs, funding for other initiatives and stiffer sentencing laws for drug dealers.
He also suggested the death penalty for dealers, a proposal that has gained little support from drug abuse and judicial experts.
— With files from The Associated Press, Reuters
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