CDC: Opioid Overdose Deaths Increased in 2014

Overdose deaths from opioids, including opioid pain relievers and heroin, hit record levels in the U.S. in 2014, increasing 14% from 2013, according to new data published by the Centers for Disease Control. Rates of opioid overdose deaths increased from 7.9 per 100,000 in 2013 to 9.0 per 100,000 in 2014, according to data published this month in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The authors, from the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, found that from 2013 and 2014, the age-adjusted death rate from natural and semi-synthetic opioids — the most commo...