Fentanyl : the number of deaths from overdoses has doubled in the United States

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Published the 04.09.2017 at 16: 57

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The number of deaths by overdose continues to grow in the United States. According to a report by the CDC, drugs killed 64 000 people during the year 2016. The authorities registered an increase of more than 22 % compared to 52 404 deaths reported in 2015. The overdose are the leading cause of mortality in less than 50 years, the report said.

Fentanyl and its derivatives represent an important share of these deaths. The deadly epidemic that broke out in North America does not seems to give no signs of slowing down, despite the alerts. On the contrary, the number of deaths attributable to them has doubled between 2015 and 2016, to reach 21 405 by 2016 (against 9945 of the previous year). In 2014, the number of deaths related to fentanyl was $ 3000. According to the calculations of the New York Times, the increase in overdose amounts to 540 % in the past three years.

Drugs kill more than HIV

The year was also marked by a reversal of the death by overdose of cocaine and methamphetamine, while the trend was downward. In the end, all of these drugs that kills more people than HIV / aids in its darkest hours, alert the experts.

The increases in the most brutal have been observed in Delaware, Florida and Maryland. A sign that the epidemic is not a phenomenon that is ” rural “, as it has long been customary to think. In Maryland, in 2016, the deaths have surpassed them only those registered in Kentucky, and Maine.