The Phoenix Flyer

CDC releases data on 2017 opioid overdoses. The numbers don’t look good.

By: CD Davidson-Hiers - August 17, 2018 7:00 am

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released new data on drug overdose deaths in the last year nationwide and the numbers are not promising. Since January 2015, deaths from opioid overdoses have increased by the thousands and spiked in October with 47,801 reported deaths nationwide.

This year began with a reported 47,232 people dead in the U.S. from opioids. That’s a little over 1,500 people overdosing a day.

The Florida numbers aren’t much different – a reported 5,179 people died from opioids in Florida in January 2017 compared to 5,428 in January of this year. That’s almost 200 people a day.

The CDC warns that its numbers are provisional since the cause of death in most cases is listed as “pending investigation” and requires a toxicology report.

Most numbers are underreported.

People who overdose on more than one drug are listed in both categories for the drugs used.

Synthetic opioid-related deaths (excluding methadone) increased from a reported 5,766 people dead nationwide in January 2015 to 28,526 in January of this year.

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CD Davidson-Hiers

CD Davidson-Hiers is a 2017 summa cum laude graduate of Florida State University with a degree in Creative Writing and French. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Golden Key honors societies, and has received multiple writing awards for fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Prior to joining the Florida Phoenix, CD worked at the Tallahassee Democrat and has bylines in Tallahassee Magazine. She is a native of Pensacola and currently lives in Tallahassee with her tabby cat, Faulkner.