The unprecedented rise in drug overdose deaths in the United States continues, reaching another record high, according to new provisional data published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC estimates that 106,854 people died due to drug overdose in the 12-month period ending November 2021. Annual drug overdose deaths have more than doubled over the past six years, jumping 16% over the past year alone.
Synthetic opioids — including fentanyl — were involved in about two-thirds of drug overdose deaths over the past year. While deaths involving heroin have declined in recent months, deaths involving synthetic opioids or psychostimulants have nearly doubled in number over the past two years.
Over the past year, overdose deaths rose in all but three states: Wyoming, Hawaii and New Hampshire. A third of all overdose deaths occurred in five states: California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas.
