Fentanyl Increasingly Source of U.S. Drug Overdose Deaths

(Bloomberg) -- More than 50 people in the U.S. died every day from fentanyl overdoses in 2016.

While the government has made efforts to reduce the supply of both legally manufactured prescription opioids and the number of opioid prescriptions, deaths from opioid-related overdoses accelerated from 2013 to 2016.

The number of drug overdose deaths involving fentanyl more than doubled each year from 2013 to 2016. The number of these deaths was stable in 2011 and 2012 but began to increase in 2013, rising to 18,335 deaths in 2016. That year fentanyl was the most frequently mentioned overdose drug on death certificates -- most of the time in conjunction with heroin or cocaine use.

Provisional mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System show that synthetic opioids, excluding methadone, contributed to a record 30,298 deaths in the 12-months ending in Aug. 2018, the latest month available.

Young adults age 25 to 34 and the younger cohort of 15 to 24-year-olds saw the largest average annual percentage rise in recent years.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Tanzi in Washington at atanzi@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Tanzi at atanzi@bloomberg.net, Chris Middleton

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