Drug overdose deaths in 2016 most likely exceeded 59,000, the largest annual jump ever recorded in the United States, according to preliminary data compiled by The New York Times.
The death count is the latest consequence of an escalating public health crisis: opioid addiction, now made more deadly by an influx of illicitly manufactured fentanyl and similar drugs. Our estimate of 62,500 deaths would be a 19 percent increase over the 52,404 recorded in 2015.
Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50, and all evidence suggests the problem has continued to worsen in 2017.
The initial data points to large increases in drug overdose deaths in states along the East Coast, particularly Maryland, Florida, Pennsylvania and Maine. In Ohio, which filed a lawsuit last week accusing five drug companies of abetting the opioid epidemic, we estimate overdose deaths increased by more than 25 percent in 2016.
Well, the CIA and Clinton Foundation had to do something with all of that premium Afghani seed; why burn it when you've got billions of buckaroos to make?
50 thousand dead a year means little to them.
Parker White
bump
Michael Reed
>crisis
worthless dopeheads removing themselves from the planet.
Well look like the Chinese are getting back at us for the opium wars. But this is a blessing in disguise, hard drug users are overwhelmingly left-wing.
Owen Perez
Ohiofag here, there's a reason DeWine filed a lawsuit.
PA and OH are disproportionately effected by the heroin epidemic. With Akron being the epicenter. Fuck dude, so many kids I graduated with ODed. I'm in the corridor between the Cleveland suburbs and Lorain, it's insane how prevalent it is.
