"Drug overdose deaths, including opioid overdose deaths, continue to increase in the United States, according to new data published (Friday) in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report," the release stated.
Between 2014 and 2015, death rates for synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, increased by 72.2 percent while heroin death rates increased by 20.6 percent, the release added.
In addition, synthetic opioid and heroin death rates increased among age groups 15 and older, among all races, the release pointed out.
In 2015, more than 52,000 people died from a drug overdose, of those, 33,091, or 63 percent, were caused by a prescription or illicit opioid, the release said. Since 2000, more than 300,000 Americans have died of opioid overdose, the release added.
CDC Director Tom Frieden stated in the release that the opioid crisis is driven by the misuse of prescription opioids or use of illicit opioids.
