Drug Deaths in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

Drug overdose deaths have risen steadily in the United States over the past two decades and have become a leading cause of injury death. Between 1999 and 2022, the drug death rate rose more than 500%. In 2022, nearly 108,000 Americans died of a drug overdose.

Though these statistics reflect all drug deaths, opioids — fentanyl in particular — are the most significant contributor. More than 76% of drug deaths in 2022 involved an opioid. Overdose deaths caused by using multiple illicit substances simultaneously have also been rising and often include opioids. Other drugs that contribute to drug deaths in the U.S. include stimulants like cocaine and tranquilizers such as benzodiazepines. 

Heavy drug use and overdoses are costly to society, burdening individuals, families, the health care system and the economy. In 2017, fatal opioid overdoses and opioid use disorder cost the U.S. $1.02 trillion. The effects of substance misuse contribute to public health problems like neonatal abstinence syndrome, HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. In 2017, 240,000 children lost a parent to opioid overdose, and parental opioid use affected approximately 1.4 million children.

According to America’s Health Rankings analysis, populations with higher drug overdose death rates include:

• Men, who have a drug overdose death rate more than twice that of women.
• Adults ages 35-44, who have the highest rate of drug overdose deaths compared with all other age groups. 
• American Indian/Alaska Native, Black and white adults compared with Asian adults.

Additional studies have found that drug deaths are highest among individuals working in construction and extraction occupations and adults with lower levels of educational attainment. Those who take a high daily dosage of prescription pain relievers (e.g., methadone, oxycodone or hydrocodone) are vulnerable to abuse of prescription opioids and overdose.

A multifaceted and coordinated approach between public health and public safety has been a crucial component of the response effort. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) prevention strategies include:

• Supporting surveillance and funding research on strategies to prevent opioid-related harms.
• Building state, local and tribal capacity to coordinate prescription drug monitoring programs and respond to drug overdose outbreaks.
• Supporting providers, health systems and payers in efforts to improve opioid prescribing for pain management, including the use of the CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain and a prescription checklist to encourage safe prescribing practices. 
• Improving public safety by supporting law enforcement strategies to reduce the illicit opioid supply and expand access and timely use of naloxone (an antidote to reverse an opioid overdose). 
• Empowering consumers to make safe choices by increasing awareness of the potential harms associated with prescription opioid misuse through the Rx Awareness Campaign. 

Additional strategies to prevent overdose deaths and reduce harm among those with opioid addiction include:

• Improving access to drug treatment programs, including medication-assisted treatment.
• Encouraging collaboration and data sharing between states on effective policies and practices for addressing substance use disorder and the opioid crisis.

In 2020, the Office on Women’s Health published a toolkit to help health care professionals and social services organization leaders improve care coordination for women with opioid use disorder. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has published an opioid overdose prevention toolkit for providers, communities, local governments and consumers. They also offer resources and advice about what to do if someone you know has a problem with drugs. The National Institute on Drug Abuse also offers resources and advice about what to do if someone you know is struggling with illicit drug misuse.

Reducing drug overdose deaths is a Healthy People 2030 leading health indicator. Additional drug-related objectives include:

• Increasing abstinence from illicit drugs among pregnant women.
• Reducing the proportion of women who use illicit opioids during pregnancy.
• Reducing the proportion of adolescents who used drugs in the past month.

Billock, Rachael M. “QuickStats: Age-Adjusted Drug Overdose Death Rates Among Workers Aged 16–64 Years in Usual Occupation Groups with the Highest Drug Overdose Death Rates — National Vital Statistics System, United States, 2020.” MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 71, no. 29 (July 22, 2022): 948. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7129a5.

Brundage, Suzanne C., Adam Fifield, and Lee Partridge. The Ripple Effect: National and State Estimates of the U.S. Opioid Epidemic’s Impact on Children. United Health Foundation, 2019. https://media.uhfnyc.org/filer_public/6e/80/6e80760f-d579-46a3-998d-1aa816ab06f6/uhf_ripple_effect_national_and_state_estimates_chartbook.pdf.

Carroll, Jennifer J., Traci C. Green, and Rita K. Noonan. “Evidence-Based Strategies for Preventing Opioid Overdose: What’s Working in the United States.” National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2018. https://www.cdc.gov/ore/pdf/2018-evidence-based-strategies_508.pdf.

Dowell, Deborah, Kathleen R. Ragan, Christopher M. Jones, Grant T. Baldwin, and Roger Chou. “CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain — United States, 2022.” MMWR. Recommendations and Reports 71, no. 3 (November 4, 2022): 1–95. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.rr7103a1.

Drug Enforcement Administration. “2024 National Drug Threat Assessment.” U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, May 2024. https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/NDTA_2024.pdf.

Gladden, R. Matthew, Pedro Martinez, and Puja Seth. “Fentanyl Law Enforcement Submissions and Increases in Synthetic Opioid–Involved Overdose Deaths — 27 States, 2013–2014.” MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 65, no. 33 (August 26, 2016): 837–43. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6533a2.

Hedegaard, Holly, Arialdi Miniño, Merianne Rose Spencer, and Margaret Warner. “Drug Overdose Deaths in the United States, 1999–2020.” NCHS Data Brief No. 428. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, December 30, 2021. https://doi.org/10.15620/cdc:112340.

Powell, David. “Educational Attainment and US Drug Overdose Deaths.” JAMA Health Forum 4, no. 10 (October 6, 2023): e233274. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamahealthforum.2023.3274.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. “SAMHSA Overdose Prevention and Response Toolkit.” Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2023. https://store.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/overdose-prevention-response-kit-pep23-03-00-001.pdf.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration. “Caring for Women with Opioid Use Disorder: A Toolkit for Organization Leaders and Providers.” Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2020. https://www.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/hrsa/owh/caring-women-opioid-disorder.pdf.

Zibbell, Jon E., Arnie Aldridge, Megan Grabenauer, David Heller, Sarah Duhart Clarke, DeMia Pressley, and Hope Smiley McDonald. “Associations between Opioid Overdose Deaths and Drugs Confiscated by Law Enforcement and Submitted to Crime Laboratories for Analysis, United States, 2014–2019: An Observational Study.” The Lancet Regional Health - Americas 25 (September 2023): 100569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2023.100569.