CDC Report: 665 Overdose Deaths In Nevada In 2016

In 2016, 665 Nevadans died from a drug overdose. That number equates to 21.7 deaths per 100,000 residents, above the national average of 19.8, according to a study released by the Center for Disease Control on Thursday.

Those figures reflect a national trend that has only worsened since the turn of the century. In 2016, 63,632 Americans died of an overdose, a number that is more than triple what it was in 2000 when 17,415 died from an overdose at a rate of 6.2 per 100,000.

The highest rate of overdose deaths in 2016 was in West Virginia (52 deaths per 100,000 residents), followed by Ohio (39.1), New Hampshire (39), Washington, D.C. (38.8), and Pennsylvania (37.9).

Roughly two-thirds of the 63,632 overdose deaths across the country in 2016 were men (41,558). That number represented a sharp increase from 20.8 overdose deaths per 100,000 American men in 2015, to 26.2 in 2016--the largest year-to-year increase on record in the United States. In women, the overdose rate in 2016 was 13.4 per 100,000 (22,074 total deaths).

The age group with the most overdose deaths in 2016 was in people ages 25-34, though the group most afflicted by the epidemic were people ages 35-44, who died at a rate of 35 per 100,000.

Opioid Deaths

Of the more than 63,600 overdose deaths in America last year, 42,249 were opioid related. Earlier this month, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson filed a lawsuit against 23 opioid manufacturers and distributors. The lawsuit seeks to recoup costs for "the primary brunt of law enforcement, social services, and addiction treatment efforts," that the county has had to employ to combat the opioid epidemic in Nevada.

John Parker Senior Vice President of Healthcare Distribution Alliance, acknowledged the opioid problem but said distributors are not solely to blame, pointing to the fact that distributors don't manufacture the drugs or write prescriptions.

“As distributors, we understand the tragic impact the opioid epidemic has on communities across the country. We are deeply engaged in the issue and are taking our own steps to be part of the solution – but we aren’t willing to be scapegoats," he said in a statement. “Distributors are logistics companies that arrange for the safe and secure storage, transport, and delivery of medicines from manufacturers to pharmacies, hospitals, long-term care facilities, and others based on prescriptions from licensed physicians. We don’t make medicines, market medicines, prescribe medicines, or dispense them to consumers."

He added, “We are ready to have a serious conversation about solving a complex problem and are eager to work with political leaders and all stakeholders in finding forward-looking solutions.”

Nevadans were prescribed opioids at a rate of 87 prescription per 100 residents in 2016. Numbers show a 21 percent decline in opioid related deaths in Clark County from 2010-2015.

Data released by the CDC shows that overdose deaths nationwide have continued to trend upwards in 2017.

Image via Patrick Sison/Associated Press