Heroin, other opioids led to 73% of 2015 overdose deaths, says CDC study with state-level data

Deaths from heroin and natural and semi-synthetic opioids—such as oxycodone and hydrocodone—accounted for 49 percent of all overdose deaths in 2015, says a study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Heroin-overdose deaths tripled from 8 percent in 2010 to 25 percent in 2015. While the percentage of deaths from synthetic opioids declined from 29 percent to 24 percent, deaths from synthetic opioids other than methadone—such as fentanyl and tramadol—increased from eight percent to 18 percent.

West Virginia had the highest age-adjusted drug-overdose death rate at 41.5 deaths per 100,000 people. New New Hampshire (34.3) was second, followed by Kentucky (29.9), Ohio (29.9), Rhode Island (28.2), Pennsylvania (26.3), Massachusetts (25.7), New Mexico (25.3), Utah (23.4), Tennessee (22.2), Connecticut (22.1), Delaware (22.0), Maine (21.2), Maryland (20.9), Michigan (20.4), Nevada (20.4), Indiana (19.5), Louisiana (19.0), Arizona (19.0), Oklahoma (19.0), and Missouri (17.9). The national average was 16.3.

Nebraska had the lowest rate at 6.9. It was followed by South Dakota (8.4), North Dakota (8.6), Texas (9.4), Iowa (10.3), Minnesota (10.6), California (11.3), Hawaii (11.3),  Kansas (11.8), Oregon (12.0), Mississippi (12.3), Virginia (12.4), Georgia (12.7),  New York (13.6), Montana (13.8), Arkansas (13.8), Illinois (14.1) and Idaho (14.2). (CDC map: Age-adjusted drug overdose death rates, by state in 2015)