Number of Drug Poisoning Deaths Now Rival Motor Vehicle Traffic Deaths

This week’s CESAR Fax from the University of Maryland, College Park’s Center for Substance Abuse Research says the number of drug poisoning deaths now rival motor vehicle traffic deaths.

Nearly as many people die each year from drug poisoning as from motor vehicle traffic accidents, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Drug poisoning deaths are now the second leading cause of death from injuries, second only to motor vehicle traffic accidents.

According to the authors, “Government agencies and other organizations joined together to achieve great reductions in the number of deaths from motor vehicle crashes in the past three decades. . . . Using a comprehensive, multifaceted approach, it may be possible to reverse the trend in drug poisoning mortality”

The number of drug poisoning deaths, which includes deaths resulting from illegal, prescription, and over-the-counter drug misuse, has increased nearly every year since 1980. The most significant increases, however, have occurred in the last two decades. Since 1990, the number of deaths related to drug poisonings has more than quadrupled, increasing from 8,413 to 36,450 in 2008 (the most recent year for which data are available).

This increase is largely due to an increase in drug poisoning deaths involving natural and semi-synthetic opioids.