In 2017, drug overdose deaths hit the highest level ever recorded in the United States. An estimated 200 people died every day, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The DEA figures are in line with preliminary numbers released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this summer that estimated over 72,000 people had died of drug overdoses in 2017.
Health Secretary Alex Azar said Tuesday that toward the end of last year and through the beginning of this year, the number of deaths “has begun to plateau.” This does not necessarily mean deaths are declining, Deaths are just rising at a slower rate.
The report, released Friday, shows that heroin, fentanyl, and other opioids continue to be the highest drug threat in the nation. Preliminary data shows 49,060 people died from opioid-related OD deaths, a rise from the reported 42,249 opioid overdose deaths in 2016.
Specifically, prescription opioid and heroin deaths appear to be leveling off, however, deaths involving fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamines are on the rise.
Fentanyl is increasingly available in the form of counterfeit prescription pills marketed for illicit street sales and also sold by traffickers on its own, without the presence of other drugs. The DEA also points out that methamphetamine and cocaine are being seen at much higher levels in areas that haven’t historically been hot-spots for those drugs.
The DEA is also concerned that groups are exploiting marijuana legalization to traffic cannabis into the illicit market or to states that don’t have medicinal or recreational-use marijuana laws.
Focusing on the source of illicit drugs
Mexican transnational criminal organizations, including the Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel, remain the greatest criminal drug threat. The cartels are the principal wholesale drug sources for domestic gangs responsible for the street-level distribution of drugs in the U.S.
Mexican cartels continue to make large quantities of cheap methamphetamines that are delivered across our Southern border. Seizures of methamphetamines at the border increased from 8,900 pounds in 2010 to nearly 82,000 pounds thus far in 2018. The drug market continues to be dominated by neighborhood-based street gangs and prison gangs who use drug trafficking as their major source of income.
The DEA said China is the main source of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids that have been flooding the U.S. market. China has pushed back against the characterization, and U.S. officials have been trying to work closely with their Chinese counterparts in stemming the flow.
