Nearly 10,000 Americans STILL dying to drug overdoses every month, new CDC data shows

Nearly 10,000 Americans are still dying from drug overdoses every month, figures show.

An update by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that in the year to February there were up to 109,940 drug overdose deaths, which the agency said was probably ‘an underestimate’.

That is the equivalent of 9,161 deaths per month, which experts warned was like a jet full of Americans crashing and burning almost every day.

Fentanyl was the main cause of deaths, behind about eight in ten cases. It was followed by methamphetamines, cocaine and prescription opioids. 

The above map shows the percentage change in overdose deaths by state between February 2022 and February 2023. Washington, Maine and Nevada were the states to see the sharpest rises

Philadelphia’s inner city has long been a magnet for drug users seeking their next high, but the scale of problems caused by xylazine is shocking even to locals who have become accustomed to such distressing scenes

Pictured above is a man on the streets of San Francisco during the US drugs crisis

There are major concerns about a deadly new cocktail of fentanyl and an animal tranquilizer — xylazine — that is cropping up in US drug supplies.

President Joe Biden this week announced a plan to cut overdose deaths from fentanyl and xylazine, but set himself the modest aim of a 15 percent reduction by 2025. 

America’s overdose crisis has been rocketing since the 2010s when fentanyl first began to flood the illicit drug supply.

It is up to 50 times more powerful than heroin and can help drug users achieve a more intense high, but is also toxic, with as little as two milligrams able to kill an adult.

Overdose deaths surged over the Covid pandemic amid concerns over keeping jobs and rising levels of mental health problems.

Fatalities began to plateau in early 2022, which the White House heralded as a sign the US was ‘beating’ the crisis.

But health scientists have sounded a more skeptical note, with one warning that this may be just a ‘wobble’ before deaths tick up again.

Nationwide, California recorded the most fatalities from drug overdoses in the year to February 2023 at 11,047.

The second-highest number was recorded in Florida (7,733), followed by Texas (5,345), Pennsylvania (5,209) and Ohio (5,140).

At the other end of the scale was South Dakota, which had recorded just 87 deaths from drug overdoses over the year to February.

Wyoming had the second-lowest number (123), while North Dakota (144) and Montana (184) also recorded fewer than 200 overdose deaths.

Overall, 33 out of 50 states recorded fewer overdose deaths compared to the same period last year.

Washington, Maine and Nevada saw the sharpest rises in overdose deaths by 21, 16 and 10 percent.

Based on the provisional figures, overdose deaths are expected to fall by 0.1 percent in the year to February 2023 compared to the same time last year.

Previously Dr Rahul Gupta, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), has heralded the plateauing overdose fatalities as a sign the US was ‘beating’ the crisis.

Overdose deaths in the US have started to plateau, data suggests, at about 9,160 per month. The White House says this is a sign that they are ‘beating’ the crisis

He said: ‘We’ve expanded treatment to millions of Americans, we’re improving access to Naloxone to reverse overdoses, and we’re attacking the illicit fentanyl supply chain at every choke point.

‘As a result, around 19,000 people are still alive and can be there at the dinner table, at birthdays, and at life’s most important moments.’

He added: ‘President Biden called on us to double down on our efforts to save even more lives so we can beat this crisis, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.’

Sounding a more skeptical note Dr Donald Burke, a health scientist at the University of Pittsburgh, told the Washington Post: ‘Anybody looking at this with historical trends in mind, and a bit of statistics in mind, will probably say it’s not going to go down,’