--- title: Opioid Overdose Rates in U.S. Are Still Increasing, CDC Says description: Emergency room visits for suspected opioid overdoses increased by about 30% across the United States between June 2016 and September 2017 canonical: https://time.com/5187886/opioid-overdose-rates/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-06T18:00:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:01:41.960Z article:section: Health og:title: Opioid Overdose Rates in America Are Still Increasing og:description: The opioid continues to get worse, and it "does not respect state or county lines" og:url: https://time.com/5187886/opioid-overdose-rates/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb2359b98dc63ad9/698929e00a4a2269439d2012/emergency-room.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5100 og:image:height: 2869 og:image:alt: Sliding doors of emergency room in hospital og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Opioid Overdose Rates in America Are Still Increasing twitter:description: The opioid continues to get worse, and it "does not respect state or county lines" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb2359b98dc63ad9/698929e00a4a2269439d2012/emergency-room.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Opioid Overdose Rates in America Are Still Increasing > 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=2fda565a-f13b-46af-9e5f-50a99487b46b&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Opioid Diaries | Harm Reduction: Inside A Needle Exchange [Watch (HLS stream): The Opioid Diaries | Harm Reduction: Inside A Needle Exchange](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/CzImvL7Z.m3u8) (2:35)  _Published 2018-02-23. Harm-reduction efforts continue to grow nationwide, despite facing stigma and public opposition in some communities._  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Mar 6, 2018 6:00 PM UTC  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Mar 6, 2018 6:00 PM UTC Emergency room visits for suspected opioid overdoses increased by about 30% across the United States between June 2016 and September 2017, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The figures, included in the agency’s [monthly Vital Signs report](https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/), suggest that the [ravages of the opioid crisis](http://time.com/5170231/the-opioid-diaries/), which claimed [more than 42,000 lives in 2016](https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/index.html), show few signs of letting up. “It does not respect state or county lines and is still increasing in every region in the United States,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, the acting director of the CDC, said in a statement. Some areas did see increases in overdose rates far above the national average. Wisconsin, for example, saw a staggering 109% increase, followed by a 105% increase in Delaware, an 81% increase in Pennsylvania and a 66% increase in Illinois. Overall, the Midwest experienced a 70% growth in overdose rates. The Northeast and Southeast, meanwhile, saw upticks of about 20%, while the Southeast saw a 14% rise. Increases in overdose-related emergency department visits were similar across genders [and age groups](http://time.com/5186192/childhood-opioid-overdoses/), according to the report. Large cities, however, saw a particularly stark increase, at 54% compared to 21% in more rural areas. A few states did report decreases, though most of those drops— like those in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island — were not considered significant. Only Kentucky, with a 15% drop, saw a statistically significant decrease in overdose-related emergency room visits, according to the report. The Vital Signs report draws on emergency room data from both the CDC’s Enhanced State Opioid Overdose Surveillance Program, which tracks trends in 16 states that have been severely affected by the epidemic, and the National Syndromic Surveillance Program BioSense Platform, which incorporates data from 52 jurisdictions in 45 states. The variety of data points included in the analysis, according to the report, underscores the severity of the issue. The spiking number of patients visiting emergency rooms also suggests that local hospitals and health centers could play a pivotal role in curtailing the effects of the crisis. Since many users overdose multiple times, emergency departments have an opportunity to help overdose patients access medication-assisted treatment, mental health services, the [overdose reversal drug naloxone](http://time.com/4999223/what-is-narcan/) and other substance abuse prevention resources, according to the report. State and local health departments can also use emergency department data, which is often available much sooner than national-level statistics, to inform communities and lawmakers about the status of the opioid crisis on the ground. ## Transcript [ SOUND ] After 30 years and 9 federally funded studies, we're still sort of having to continually justify our existence. We've sort of always been sort of the black sheep of public health. When in reality, a needle exchange program is a huge benefit to the community. God. I don't want the whole thing. Give it to somebody who needs it. Yeah, give it someone that needs it. Alright, alright. There you go. Brings it to me and everything. Yup, everything go for it. Alright, God bless you honey. Bye. If someone's injecting and using a clean needle that's a positve change. Their not hanging their head in shame, their coming back and asking for help and their getting clean supplies. That's what we want. Although there are like really amazing neighbors that support us, there is a very well organized group that would love to see us completely shut down. I don't know who made the decision to put the needle exchange In front of the residence here in the Haight, but it makes no sense to me. It could be saving people's lives at the same time. When you come to our our syringe access site, it's not just about the needles, right? It's about the connection, it's about other services. It's about giving people a place To feel accepted as they are and to reduce the harm in their own lives. I've seen them hand out clean needles and cupcakes on Christmas day. You know it doesn't matter what day of the year it is they'll be here and they're angels . >> And it counts it down for you? The two people that I did Narcan refills tonight had done reverses in the alst week. Which means that The person would have been dead. [ NOISE ] When people are not being acknowledged, they're less likely to move beyond their current circumstance. Harm reduction embraces recovery. We just recognize that there are a lot of steps between point A to point B for people to achieve that. You can't deny someone life saving interventions because they won't stop doing drugs. That's when people die. Need a little vial? We need to start thinking about how do we take drug use out of the shadows and into the light and start treating it like the chronic illness that it is. 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