Federal health officials announced on Wednesday that fentanyl is now America’s deadliest drug, according to statistics from 2016, the most recent year for which data is available. 2016 saw over 18,000 overdose deaths related to fentanyl, USA Today reported.
The report, which was prepared by the National Center for Health Statistics (a branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), also said that the rate of overdose deaths from fentanyl rose drastically between 2013 and 2016, with an average 113 percent increase per year. In 2016, fentanyl was responsible for 29 percent of all overdose deaths, while 2011 saw only 4 percent of overdose deaths related to fentanyl.
Over 63,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2016, averaging to about 174 deaths per day. While a percentage of these deaths was a result of fentanyl use, the report also notes that the drug was often mixed with others.
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