NC Opioid Overdose Deaths Increased In 2017: CDC

More than 72,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses in 2017, according to preliminary estimates released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week. The CDC cautions that the figures are an underestimate because of deaths for which an official cause remains pending.

Analysis by The New York Times says that figure represents a 10 percent increase in opioid overdose deaths compared to 2016. A significant number of the overdose deaths were reported to be caused by fentanyl, with the CDC estimates attributing nearly 30,000 deaths in 2017 to the synthetic opioid. That represents a sharp increase over 2016, when just over 20,000 overdose deaths were reported to be caused by fentanyl.

The CDC figures are released every month. The data released this week includes figures for December 2017, which provides a first-time look at the year as a whole.

In North Carolina, the number of opioid overdose deaths increased 22.6 percent in 2017, compared to 2016. The CDC’s figures show there were 2,369 opioid overdose deaths in North Carolina in 2017, an increase of 438 overdose deaths compared to 2016. (For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)

Massachusetts and Vermont, which are among states that have been hit hard by the crisis, reported a year-over-year decrease in overdose deaths, the CDC data shows. Preliminary data for overdose deaths in the 12-month period ending in January 2018 also shows a decrease in Rhode Island.

Fentanyl is a particularly deadly opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. The CDC says the sharp rise in fentanyl-related deaths is likely due to illegal fentanyl sold in the streets.

At a cabinet meeting on Thursday, President Donald Trump said he’s directing Attorney General Jeff Sessions to file a federal lawsuit against certain companies that supply and manufacture opioids. Trump said he's directing Sessions to file a separate lawsuit, rather than joining existing lawsuits filed by states affected by the spread of the often-lethal, highly-addictive drugs.

It was not immediately clear if or when a federal suit would be filed. A barrage of suits have been filed nationwide against distributors and manufacturers in recent months amid the opioid epidemic.

Reporting from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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