On average, in what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have dubbed a drug “epidemic,” 130 people die each day in the U.S. from an opioid overdose.
Death by drug poisoning — or overdose — has surged since 2000 in all regions and among all ethnic groups.
In 2017, more than 70,200 people in the U.S. died as a result of a drug overdose. Some 68% of these deaths involved opioids, with the number being six times higher than that in 1999.