CHARLESTON — New numbers released Friday by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration say opioid overdose deaths in 2017 hit the highest level ever recorded in this country.
The numbers showed there were an estimated 200 people dying per day in the United States last year with the early figures totaling more than 72,000 deaths from opioid-related overdoses.
In the DEA’s National Drug Threat Assessment, it shows that heroin, fentanyl, and other opioids continue to be the highest drug threat in the nation.
The report also said that most of the heroin sold in the U.S. is being trafficked from Mexico and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seize the most amount of heroin along the Mexico border, near San Diego.
Last week, President Donald Trump pledged to put an ‘extremely big dent’ in the issue and U.S. health secretary Alex Azar said drug overdose deaths have now begun to level off but warned that it was too soon to claim victory.
According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, in 2016, West Virginia had the highest rate of opioid-related overdose deaths in the United States at a rate of 43.4 deaths per 100,000.
