Drug overdose deaths surged in 14 states last year, including Pennsylvania

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say deadly drug overdoses have hit an all-time high previous year.

Overall drug overdose deaths rose to 47,055 from 43,982 the year before.

The CDC found most overdoses were with heroin and prescription painkillers.

Given that the count represents a spike across all demographics-for adults in every age range, for both women and men, and for blacks and non-Hispanic whites alike-the report should certainly be viewed as worrisome.

“The increasing number of deaths from opioid overdose is alarming”, said CDC Director Tom Frieden. OH stood second with more than 2,700 deaths related to overdose.

Illicit fentanyl is also combined with heroin or sold as heroin, which might be contributing to the rise in overdose deaths from heroin as well, the researchers said.

“I am told to move and be active, but in order to be active many days, I need the additional help of my opioid medication that my dr. has prescribed”.

The states with the highest rate of deaths resulted from opioid overdose are Ohio, Kentucky, New Hampshire, New Mexico and West Virginia. On Friday it provided more details, including numbers for individual states.

According to the CDC, widespread availability of illegally produced synthetic opioids and inadequate treatment programs are to blame for the “worsening” epidemic.

Despite of efforts to fight the opioid epidemic, overdoses of prescription drugs and heroin continue to be the leading cause of unintentional deaths in America, with MI to be among 14 states to saw significant increase in death rate from 2013 to 2014.

Drug overdose deaths increased sharply across the United States to the highest level since at least 1970, according to a new government report.

Protect people with opioid use disorder by expanding access and use of naloxone-a critical drug that can reverse the symptoms of an opioid overdose and save lives.

Last week a team at Stanford University reported that primary care physicians, not pain specialists, are by far the biggest prescribers of opioid drugs.

The CDC analyzed recent mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System to track trends and characteristics of the crisis, including the types of drugs associated with these cases.

Heroin and prescription painkillers were responsible for 61 percent of the deaths, the New York Times noted.