Opioids and Substance Abuse
Posted November 18, 2020
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 128 people die each day from an opioid overdose in the United States. The opioid epidemic has plagued the United States for decades, claiming the lives of nearly 450,000 people from 1999-2018, and the mortality rate has been rising steadily since the turn of the century. In fact, the opioid death rate is now more than five times greater than it was in 1999. The rise in opioid-related and overdose deaths can be defined in three distinct waves, taking place from the 1990s through present time.
