Numbers keep rising

More people are dying from drug overdoses, particularly from Fentanyl and other synthetic opioid painkillers. In 2016 these drugs resulted in killing more than 21,000 people last year. When you ad in heroin, cocaine and prescription painkillers you wind up at almost 65,000 deaths, a 21% jump 2015. Overall, opioid overdose deaths quadrupled from 8,050 in 1991 to 33,091 in 2015, according to the CDC. Heroin deaths quadrupled from 3,036 in 2010 to 12,989 in 2015, driven by a sharp increase in the heroin supply. Now fentanyl is creating a third wave of overdose deaths, as those first two waves have steadied to each kill around 15,000 people a year.