--- title: Heroin Causes 1 in 4 Drug Overdose Deaths In U.S. description: Drug overdoses in the U.S. are on the rise, and now one in four of them come from heroin, according to a new CDC study. canonical: https://time.com/4681721/heroin-drug-overdoses-study/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-24T15:26:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:37.124Z article:section: Health og:title: Study: 1 in 4 Drug Overdoses in the U.S. Are from Heroin og:description: Three times the proportion in 1999 og:url: https://time.com/4681721/heroin-drug-overdoses-study/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt672463784eed5819/6988bbb6cd1bba4faf70416c/heroine-overdose.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Illegal Street Drugs og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Study: 1 in 4 Drug Overdoses in the U.S. Are from Heroin twitter:description: Three times the proportion in 1999 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt672463784eed5819/6988bbb6cd1bba4faf70416c/heroine-overdose.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Study: 1 in 4 Drug Overdoses in the U.S. Are from Heroin ## Video: The Story Behind the Viral Photograph of Opioid Victims [Watch (HLS stream): The Story Behind the Viral Photograph of Opioid Victims](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dPSUlrxR.m3u8) (6:12)  _Published 2017-01-23. The East Liverpool, Ohio police department decided to share on social media a picture of a couple overdosed and passed out in a car with a young boy in the backseat. Publishing the photo, say local law enforcement, was the city’s cry for help._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 24, 2017 3:26 PM UTC  Equipment used in the preparation of illegal street drugs. Equipment used in the preparation of illegal street drugs.Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 24, 2017 3:26 PM UTC Drug overdoses in the U.S. are [on the rise](http://time.com/4496013/heroin-opioid-addiction-treatment/), and now one in four of them come from heroin. A [new study](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db273.htm) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 25% of overdose deaths are from heroin, which is three times the proportion in 1999 (8%). Overall, the age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths in 2015 at 16.3 per 100,000 was more than 2.5 times the rate in 1999, when it was 6.1 per 100,000. Adults between the ages of 45 and 54 had the highest rates of overdose deaths in 2015, and the rates are increasing among non-Hispanic white people, nearly 3.5 times the rate in 1999, according to the CDC. **Read TIME’s cover story:** [Why America Can’t Kick Its Painkiller Problem](http://time.com/3908648/why-america-cant-kick-its-painkiller-problem/?iid=sr-link1) Researchers acknowledged that several factors could affect death rate measurement, including but not limited to the fact that drug overdose deaths can involve multiple drugs. Heroin, however, has been a growing concern in the U.S. The CDC [noted](https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/heroin/) in 2015 that heroin use has increased among both men and women across most age ages and income level. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4681721/heroin-drug-overdoses-study/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4681721/heroin-drug-overdoses-study/"},"headline":"Study: 1 in 4 Drug Overdoses in the U.S. Are from Heroin","datePublished":"2017-02-24T15:26:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:37.124Z","description":"Three times the proportion in 1999","url":"https://time.com/4681721/heroin-drug-overdoses-study/","keywords":["Research","Drugs","Heroin","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt672463784eed5819/6988bbb6cd1bba4faf70416c/heroine-overdose.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt672463784eed5819/6988bbb6cd1bba4faf70416c/heroine-overdose.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Illegal Street Drugs","caption":"Illegal Street Drugs","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4681721/heroin-drug-overdoses-study/","name":"Study: 1 in 4 Drug Overdoses in the U.S. Are from Heroin"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Story Behind the Viral Photograph of Opioid Victims","description":"The East Liverpool, Ohio police department decided to share on social media a picture of a couple overdosed and passed out in a car with a young boy in the backseat. 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