October 1, 2017

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Deaths from Opioid Overdoses Soar

Men and women of all ages are dying from heroin and fentanyl overdoses

By Mark Fischetti

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U.S. deaths from drug overdoses have skyrocketed since 2010 (line graph). Entire towns in states such as Ohio are being ravaged. In August an interim report from a Presidential Commission on the crisis described the toll as “September 11th every three weeks.” According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two trends are driving the epidemic: “a 15-year increase in deaths from prescription opioid overdoses” and a recent surge in “overdoses driven mainly by heroin and illegally-made fentanyl.” Rates are higher among men and women in virtually all age groups and regions of the country (second and third charts). Data released by the CDC also show that drug overdoses were up by at least 15 percent in the first three quarters of 2016 compared with the same period in 2015. Police reports indicate that the escalation is mostly from heroin and fentanyl; nationwide, seizures of fentanyl alone more than doubled, from 15,209 in 2015 to 31,700 in 2016.

Credit: Jen Christiansen; Sources: Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/analysis.html (line graph); “Increases in Drugs and Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths—United States, 2010–2015,” by Rose A. Rudd et al., in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Vol. 65, Nos. 50–51; December 30, 2016 (demographic breakdowns)

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Mark Fischetti was a senior editor at Scientific American for nearly 20 years and covered sustainability issues, including climate, environment, energy, and more. He assigned and edited feature articles and news by journalists and scientists and also wrote in those formats. He was founding managing editor of two spin-off magazines: Scientific American Mind and Scientific American Earth 3.0. His 2001 article “Drowning New Orleans” predicted the widespread disaster that a storm like Hurricane Katrina would impose on the city. Fischetti has written as a freelancer for the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian and many other outlets. He co-authored the book Weaving the Web with Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, which tells the real story of how the Web was created. He also co-authored The New Killer Diseases with microbiologist Elinor Levy. Fischetti has a physics degree and has twice served as Attaway Fellow in Civic Culture at Centenary College of Louisiana, which awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 2021 he received the American Geophysical Union’s Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism. He has appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press, CNN, the History Channel, NPR News and many radio stations.

More by Mark Fischetti
Scientific American Magazine Vol 317 Issue 4This article was published with the title “Opioid Deaths Soar” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 317 No. 4 (), p. 96
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1017-96
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