| West Virginia still leads the nation in the rate of drug overdose deaths.
The state is suffering one of the highest rates of addiction in the USA, with most every family affected.
The latest data from the National Center for Health Statistics shows the age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths in West Virginia is 52 per 100,000 in 2016. Ohio was second, with a rate of 39.1 New Hampshire is third.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there were more than 63,600 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. The deadliest drug was the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which were linked to more than 19,400 deaths. The rate of drug overdose deaths connected to synthetic opioids doubled in just one year. |
