Drug Deaths Accelerate in 2016

Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans under 50 because of synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl and its analogues. Drug overdoses killed about 64,000 people in the United States in 2016, which is an increase of 22% over drug deaths recorded in 2015. Drug deaths involving fentanyl more than doubled from 2015 to 2016. There has also been an increase in deaths involving the use of cocaine and methamphetamines. This increase in use has caused an epidemic of drug overdoses th...