--- title: Heroin, Opioids, Xanax: America's Overdose Problems description: It's not just opioids and heroin. Fatal overdoses of other drugs are also steeply on the rise canonical: https://time.com/4274651/obama-opioid-addiction-summit/ author: Chris Wilson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-29T16:43:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T15:25:01.000Z article:section: Health og:title: Opioids Aren't the Only Drug Epidemic in America og:description: Fatal overdoses of cocaine, sedatives and stimulants are also steeply on the rise og:url: https://time.com/4274651/obama-opioid-addiction-summit/ 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: Opioids Aren't the Only Drug Epidemic in America twitter:description: Fatal overdoses of cocaine, sedatives and stimulants are also steeply on the rise twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 5 Charts That Show How Bad America's Drug Problem Is > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=4247ad43-f4ca-4dcb-9b4c-d65b55653f4f&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Know Right Now: Heroin-Related Deaths Have Quadrupled [Watch (HLS stream): Know Right Now: Heroin-Related Deaths Have Quadrupled](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/s6gD94n4.m3u8) (1:01)  _Published 2015-03-04. Heroin-Related deaths have quadrupled in America within the last three years._  by [Chris Wilson](https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/)  ## Chris Wilson Updated: Dec 13, 2023 3:25 PM UTCPublished: Mar 29, 2016 4:43 PM UTC  by [Chris Wilson](https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/)  ## Chris Wilson Updated: Dec 13, 2023 3:25 PM UTCPublished: Mar 29, 2016 4:43 PM UTC [President Obama addressed](http://nationalrxdrugabusesummit.org/presidents-visit/) the National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin summit in Atlanta Tuesday, calling further attention to the drug epidemic in America just two weeks after the [Centers for Disease Control issued new recommendations](http://time.com/4259639/cdc-federal-government-national-standards-prescription-painkillers/) on limited the use of narcotic painkillers. Data clearly shows that [opioid and heroin addiction have become an epidemic](http://time.com/4260798/drug-epidemic-america/?xid=tcoshare) in the past 15 years. But prescription painkillers and heroin are not the only drugs whose use has exploded in the past 15 years. Using the same [CDC database](http://wonder.cdc.gov/) that tracks the growth in fatal opioid and heroin overdoses, TIME collected data on cocaine, benzodiazepines (sedatives like Valium and Xanax) and stimulants like crystal meth. All three categories have risen dramatically since the year 2000, as the following charts show. Stimulants do not include cocaine, since it has its own category. Unfortunately, the data does not differentiate between crack versus powdered cocaine, a [major policy dispute](http://swampland.time.com/2013/12/19/obama-commutes-sentences-in-crack-cocaine-cases/). **Methodology** TIME uses [CDC mortality](http://wonder.cdc.gov/) ICD-10 codes X40–X44, X85, and Y10–Y14 to measure overdoses. This is a slight departure from the [government data](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/health%5Fpolicy/AADR%5Fdrug%5Fpoisoning%5Finvolving%5FOA%5FHeroin%5FUS%5F2000-2014.pdf), which also use X60–X64, which [encompass intentional self-harm](http://apps.who.int/classifications/apps/icd/icd10online2003/fr-icd.htm?gx60.htm+). The difference in excluding this code does not lead to significant differences in the figures. Like the CDC, TIME defined opioids overdoses as secondary causes of death codes T40.2, T40.3 and T40.4, while heroin overdoses are counted as T40.1\. Benzodiazepines are code T42.4, and stimulants like crystal meth are code 43.6, the [academic standard](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3876881/) for such measures. Some deaths are double-counted in this data if a patient fatally overdosed on multiple substances, such as heroine and benzodiazepines. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4274651/obama-opioid-addiction-summit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4274651/obama-opioid-addiction-summit/"},"headline":"5 Charts That Show How Bad America's Drug Problem Is","datePublished":"2016-03-29T16:43:59.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T15:25:01.000Z","description":"It's not just opioids and heroin. 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