U.S. States with the Most Drug Overdose Deaths

Lots of reasons. Alcohol can be consumed responsibly, and a modest amount can even be healthy, whereas no amount of fentanyl is good for you. That being the case, alcohol is legal, and drinking alcohol has been normal for thousands of years. Opioid deaths are from heroin and illegal narcotics cut with fentanyl, and deaths from opioids are a recent phenomenon. You can't really have a 10,000 year epidemic. People are used to alcohol deaths; they haven't gotten used to opioid deaths yet.

Because since 2010 there's an insane increase in these deaths. That's less than 10 years and some places the amount of deaths has tripled. An increase of 100% means that something doubled. That's A BIG difference.

If opioid usage was as widespread as alcohol, imagine the deaths...

cpgatbyu Alcohol is bad.. Don't get me wrong.. But opioids.. Its just worse bro.. Take this from somebody from West Virginia.. There is 10 times more people in this country that drink alcohol for one.. Alcohol kills more simply due to the fact its used more. Secondly alcohol is better.. It is legal and I know tons of people who drink 6 beers a night and go to work. Welcome to the coal industry and construction industry. Is it wrong, yes but they manage.. I'm sorry but you cant do that with opioids like heroine.. I know I have seen it first hand. Leaving the only ways to make money for your fix being like robbing people.. My area personally they burn houses and steal the copper out of them. Which would you rather have for your community? Drunk driving, maybe indecent exposure, spouse abuse, etc. Or do you want that plus arson, robbery, etc. People who do heroine are usually broke and when they cant afford that the do meth.. They do more than just drink.. They don't have a choice.

It is so much more addicting.. Alcohol compared to heroine is night and day.. First time I drunk a beer I hated it.. Made me want to puke, I'm not going to lie.. You do heroine just 1 time.. Your done.. Doesn't matter.. Your hooked.. Plus 1 beer in your life will not kill you.. Heroine can possibly kill you the first time you ever shoot up. Plus with alcohol its just go to the gas station and get a new bottle. Heroine you have to make sure you have clean needles. You have to make sure that heroine is not old too.. If its old well then its fentanyl.. That is what fentanyl is.. And as we all should know that will kill you.. I know I am also just talking about heroine but its basically almost goes for other opioids like oxys.. Oxys are addicting as can be, they can kill you, people on oxys that are broke do more than oxys, etc. It is just 10 times worse. I live in a town filled with opioid users. I dont need to google anything. If you just looking at basic numbers, you would never know.

I would much rather live in a place with a bunch of alcoholics compared to opioids. There are countries in this world with crazy alcohol use. Doing great.. I could not imagine an entire country on heroine, oxys, etc.. It would literally fall apart. Its a shame to our country it ever happened. Opioids are not healthy at all and I could only see use of them even practical under extreme conditions. Like the user who has a genetic problem. I can maybe understand that. But not the average joe with a sprained wrist.. Pain is only temporary for most people. Doctors was just trying to make more money. Instead of treating the problem, they just give you pills. That never actually fixes or even helps the problem. Just made it bearable. My dad was given them due to back problems. My dad will not take them now.. It only makes you feel better, to get out there and hurt yourself even worse trying to make a living. For them to give you more. Every healed patients is a customer lost.

Right, I guess the whole poor Southern white trash meth-head stereotype is generally a myth. I'll admit I guessed all the Southern states myself. The Southern and Midwestern US seem to be stereotyped more than any other region on Earth, with all of the stereotypes being horribly negative, of course. Not to say the opioid crisis isn't affecting southern Appalachia and the Midwest, but it looks like the facts disprove the idea that it's exclusively, or even mostly, a Southern problem.

I think other drugs were favored in the south and midwest before opioids became easily available, but the preference of opioids is now moving into those areas. My niece is a probation and parole officer and she said heroin use is quickly rising in MO, and opioid pill addicts often move on to heroin. Big Pharma is one culprit, convincing overworked doctors that opioids were safe and the best pain solution for their patients. My daughter had a root canal done and was sent home with enough opioid pain killers to last a month. I also have painful medical conditions but I have found other ways to help with pain relief, and I refused to take opioids. Every patient has different needs and opioids may be the only option for some. I just wish doctors could take time to explore the options instead of quickly writing a 'scrip for a painkiller for those patients who demand they make their pain go away immediately and refuse to take any responsibility themselves for pain management.

As an American, I also had no idea where it was happening. However, I was able to get all of them by naming every state starting in the west coast and moving east.

No. Hello from Switzerland, by the way.

Even if you have the mandatory military service, the "broken people" can still opt out or get kicked out. You don't really want mentally unstable people handling guns, anyway.

For what I've seen, drug abuse is most often a combination of three things: availability, culture, mental. So, apathy / no hope alone doesn't cut it. It's just a strong motivational characteristic, if you can call it that, considering.

A lot of vets end up with drug addiction