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: