The Drug Epidemic - Where Are We Headed?

4/15/17

I came across the following interactive graphic in the New York Times’ “The Upshot” today.  Since 1990, the number of Americans who have died every year from drug overdoses has increased by more than 500 percent. In 2015, more Americans died from drug overdoses than from car accidents and gun homicides combined. When the statistics for more recent years become available indications are they will be worse.

I did a “tour” of every county I’ve lived in over the course of my life.  The statistics are horrifying.  The percentage of deaths in the 15-44 age group due to drug overdoses in 2015 in:

New York

       Nassau County 32%

       Manhattan 17%

       Sullivan 41%

       Ulster 23%

Pennsylvania

       Luzerne 30%

New Jersey

       Somerset 25%

Connecticut

       Litchfield 40%

Maine

       Cumberland 33%

Massachusetts

       Suffolk 32%

New Hampshire

       Hillsborough 46%

I shouldn’t be surprised, but nonetheless, I find the numbers in rural counties particularly alarming.

To do your own tour or to get a sense of the drug epidemic in this country go here:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/04/14/upshot/drug-overdose-epidemic-you-draw-it.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fupshot&action=click&contentCollection=upshot&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront