Deaths from synthetic opioids have risen from 3,000 to over 20,000 in just three years – and the carnage is expected to continue
by: Earl Garcia
NaturalNews.com
Thursday, January 18, 2018
The tragic cases of two suburban Atlanta teens succumbing to opioid overdose added to the growing and worsening number of deaths associated with drug overdose across the country. A report published in the Life Zette website revealed that deaths involving synthetic opioids grew from 3,000 to 20,000 within a three-year period, which marked a 560 percent increase in related deaths.
Reports have also pointed out that a vast majority of deaths were associated with fentanyl. According to reports, nearly 15,000 of these deaths were tied to cheaper and more lethal forms of heroin from China, which were then distributed by Mexican drug cartels. “We’ve known for a while that fentanyls were behind the growing count of drug deaths in some states and counties. But now we can see the extent to which this is true nationally, as deaths involving synthetic opioids, mostly fentanyls, have risen to more than 20,000 from 3,000 in just three years,” said graphics editor Josh Katz for his article in The New York Times.
Just last year, a report carried out by Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) revealed that opioid overdose resulted in significantly more deaths across the United States compared with homicides and suicides, the AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) crisis, vehicle accidents, and even the entire Vietnam War. (Related: New report claims opioids killed more Americans last year than the entire Vietnam War… worst is yet to come.)
According to the report, opioid overdose killed as many as 64,070 Americans in 2016 alone, up from only 52,404 in 2015. The rates were significantly higher compared with the death toll of the following events:
Homicide deaths in 1991 at 24,703
AIDS-related deaths in 1995 at 50,628
Car crash fatalities in 2015 at 35,092
All-time high suicide rates in 2015 at 44,193
The entire Vietnam War era at 35,092
The Rest…HERE
