US drug overdose deaths surge amid fentanyl scourge

WASHINGTON: US drug overdose deaths surged to nearly 72,000 last year, as addicts increasingly turn to extremely powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl as the supply of prescription painkillers has tightened.

Fresh estimates from the Centres for Disease Control showed on Thursday that overdose deaths jumped in 2017 nearly seven percent to a record 71,568, far more than traffic accident deaths, gun-related deaths or suicide.

That was up from 67,114 in 2016 and just over 54,207 the previous year, according to the CDC. Deaths increased in all but 12 of the 50 states, with the most deaths occurring in Florida, California, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

The largest surges, percentage-wise, were in the southeastern state of North Carolina, up 22.5 percent, and the midwest farm state of Nebraska, up 33.3 percent.

The overdose crisis began in the early 2010s mostly rooted in the overprescription of Oxycontin and other legal painkillers, leading to more than two million people becoming addicted. But in the past three years addicts have been forced to turn to heroin and the cheaper, far more potent fentanyl as authorities have cracked down on prescription painkiller sales.