--- title: Drug Overdose Deaths Have More Than Doubled description: Drug overdose deaths more than doubled from 1999 to 2o12, according to a new CDC National Center for Health Statistics's report. canonical: https://time.com/3612596/drug-overdose-deaths-have-more-than-doubled-in-the-u-s/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-02T05:01:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:40:39.283Z article:section: Health og:title: Drug-Overdose Deaths Have More Than Doubled in the U.S. og:description: Drug overdose deaths more than doubled from 1999 to 2o12, according to a new CDC National Center for Health Statistics's report. og:url: https://time.com/3612596/drug-overdose-deaths-have-more-than-doubled-in-the-u-s/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Drug-Overdose Deaths Have More Than Doubled in the U.S. twitter:description: Drug overdose deaths more than doubled from 1999 to 2o12, according to a new CDC National Center for Health Statistics's report. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Drug-Overdose Deaths Have More Than Doubled in the U.S. > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=987262a3-6828-4c1e-a7d8-74b65dfd80fe&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Fatal Heroin Overdoses Double In Two Years, Says CDC [Watch (HLS stream): Fatal Heroin Overdoses Double In Two Years, Says CDC](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3SI9cxxW.m3u8) (1:10)  _Published 2014-10-03. Numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate deaths from heroin overdose doubled from 2010 to 2012._ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 2, 2014 5:01 AM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 2, 2014 5:01 AM UTC Drug overdose deaths more than doubled from 1999 to 2012, according to a new CDC National Center for Health Statistics’s [report](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/drug%5Fpoisoning/drug%5Fpoisoning.htm). The new data shows drug overdose deaths from drugs like painkillers and heroin have risen from 6.1 per 100,000 population in 1999 to 13.1 in 2012\. Drug overdose deaths involving heroin in particular have nearly tripled over the time period. According to the report, in 2012 alone, there were 41,502 drug overdose deaths, of which 16,007 involved opioid analgesics and 5,925 involved heroin. It’s no question America has a painkiller problem. An [earlier CDC report from July](http://time.com/2946604/america-has-a-painkiller-problem/) revealed that 46 people die from an overdose of prescription painkillers every day. The data also showed that doctors in the U.S. wrote 259 million prescriptions for painkillers in 2012, which comes out to enough for every American adult to have a bottle of pills. States with overall higher rates were primarily in the south. The city of Chicago has even gone after Big Pharma, [filing a lawsuit in June 2014](http://time.com/2822381/chicago-blaims-big-pharma-for-epidemic-addictions-to-painkillers/) arguing that pharmaceutical companies deceptively marketed opioid painkillers like Percocet and OxyContin to manage chronic pain, even though they have a low success rate come with a high addiction risk.  The CDC [recommends](http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/opioid-prescribing/index.html) increase use of prescription-drug-monitoring programs that use databases to track prescriptions for painkillers so that states can identify problem areas where over-prescribing is more prevalent. The agency also recommends the implementation of policies that would lower prescribing rates to risky patients. ## Transcript U. S. health officials say deaths from heroine overdoses doubled in the country from 2010 to 2012. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention compiled data from 28 states to come to this conclusion. The CDC found heroine deaths increased across the board regardless of sex, age, religion and race. However this study found deaths from opioid pain reliever overdoses went down during that same time period. The CDC wrote: this decrease in opiar deaths is likely linked to the increase in heroin. Researchers think heroin may have taken over as the drug of choice. So, why the change? Well, The Daily Beast points out cost is likely a factor. It says prescription pills can cost $ 40 a pill, while a bag of heroin can go for $ 10. The study goes on to imply OPR's maybe a sort of gateway drug that leads to heroin. Information researchers feel it's important in trying to reduce heroin deaths. CDC Director Thomas Frieden said, addressing prescription opioid abuse by changing prescribing is likely to prevent heroin use in the long term. The National Institute on Drug Abuse says Heroin addictions can be treated both through behavioral therapy and medication. 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