Deaths from opioid drug overdoses have hit an all-time record in the U.S., rising 14 percent in just one year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday.
More than 47,000 people died from these drug overdoses last year, the CDC reported.
“These findings indicate that the opioid overdose epidemic is worsening,” the CDC’s Rose Rudd and colleagues wrote in their report.
“The increasing number of deaths from opioid overdose is alarming,” said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden.
“Since 2000, the rate of deaths from drug overdoses has increased 137 percent.”