CDC Takes Action to Stem Deaths from Drug Overdoses

There is an epidemic of deaths from drug overdoses in nearly every county across the U.S. driven by an increase in addiction to both prescription painkillers like OxyCondin, Vicodin and Percocet as well as heroin. The number of these deaths reached 47,055 people in 2014, equivalent to 125 Americans everyday.

West Virginia, which has many blue-collar workers who tend to experience work-related chronic pain, has the highest overdose death rate in the nation. Drug deaths have also skyrocketed in...