The number of drug overdose deaths in the United States jumped from just over 52,000 in 2015 to a staggering 64,000 in 2016, a 23 percent one-year increase that included more than 50,000 fatalities linked to opiate abuse.
The latter statistic is not surprising, since runaway prescription opiate abuse has played a starring role in the rise of drug overdose deaths. But despite the ongoing problem of painkiller abuse, approximately 30 percent of the opiate overdose deaths recorded in 2016 were actually linked to heroin abuse, which has been increasing even as painkiller abuse have leveled off.
In 2016, approximately 626,000 Americans aged 12 and older suffered from a heroin use disorder, a rate that is essentially double what is was in 2010. Not coincidentally, between 2010 and 2015 the number of drug overdose deaths in the United States attributable to heroin abuse more than tripled, rising from eight percent to 25 percent of the total.
Abuse of opiate painkillers remains a significant problem. But the increase in heroin use and addiction is just as concerning and a sign that opiate abuse in general is a major threat to the health and welfare of the American people.
