11/17/2021

Yearly Overdose Deaths Top 100,000 for First Time

Vermont, West Virginia and Kentucky posted the largest increases

Drug overdose deaths in the United States surpassed 100,000 in a 12-month period for the first time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday, a troubling milestone amid an already devastating period for the country.

The number of overdose deaths rose 29 percent, from 78,056 from April 2019 to April 2020, to 100,306 in the following 12 months. The data, from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, is considered provisional but is a good indication of what the final numbers will show next month.

It's a staggering increase for one year," said Bob Anderson, NCHS' chief of the mortality statistics branch.

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