Drug overdose deaths in US record new high: data

WASHINGTON - Drug overdose deaths in the United States reached 72,000 in 2017, hitting a record high and surpassing the highest annual death totals from HIV, car crashes and guns, according to latest provisional estimates released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

That means there are about 200 drug overdose deaths in the country every single day, or one every eight minutes.

The new estimate represents an increase of more than 6,000 deaths, or 9.5 percent, over the estimate for the previous 12-month period, said a Washington Post report on Thursday.

A New York Times report point to two main reasons for the surge: More Americans are using opioids, and drugs are becoming more deadly.

Deaths involving synthetic opioids including fentanyl surged to nearly 30,000 in 2017, according to the data, up more than 9,000 over the prior year.

Deaths involving cocaine also went up significantly, but deaths from heroin, prescription opioid pills and methadone fell last year, the data show.

The CDC cautions that these figures are early estimates based on monthly death records processed by the agency. Final mortality figures are typically released at the end of the following calendar year.