Drug overdose deaths last year dropped for the first time in nearly three decades, according to a report this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The provisional data, still subject to change when final number are released later this year, show overdose deaths fell 5% in 2018, the first major decline during an addiction epidemic that has claimed hundreds of thousands of people this decade.
“The latest provisional data on overdose deaths show that America’s united efforts to curb opioid use disorder and addiction are working,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement. “Lives are being saved, and we’re beginning to win the fight against this crisis.”
Source: USA TODAY
Read more at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2019/07/19/fentanyl-cocaine-meth-overdoses-opioid-prescription-epidemic/1769490001/
