Overdose Deaths In U.S. Drop By 5% In 2018

UPI reports that in 2018, drug overdose death have decreased in the United States.

Data released by the National Center for Health Statistics shows that between 2017 and 2018, drug overdose deaths has declined by 5.1%.

Death rate caused by synthetic opioids had increased by more than two-fold between 1999 and 2016.

In 2018, about 68,557 people died by drug overdose. Nearly 47,590 deaths were because of opioid use and 31,887 deaths caused by fentanyl, tramadol and other synthetic opioids.

Research says that physicians were paid by drug companies to over prescribe opioids drugs. During the year 2014 and 2016, drug companies had paid about $40 million to doctors for marketing in 2,200 U.S. countries.

In the same time period, death by drug overdose had raised by 18% for every three payments to the physician, by 100,000 citizens in each country.