More than 72,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2017, according to the NIH — about 200 per day. That number is more than four times the number who died in 1999 from drug abuse: 16,849.
The DEA attributed last year's uptick in deaths to a spike in opioid-related fatalities. The agency said 49,060 people died as a result of abusing opioids, up from 42,249 in 2016.
In 2017, 40,100 people died in vehicle incidents; 15,549 were fatally shot, not including suicide; 17,284 were homicide victims, though an unspecified portion of this number includes gunshot victims; and nearly 45,000 committed suicide.
