Ohio saw the biggest drop, to 3,980 overdose deaths in 2018 from 5,111 in 2017. With the fentanyl death rate still climbing, along with deaths involving cocaine and psychostimulants like methamphetamine, it is not clear whether the overall drop will be sustained. Mr. Wright, of Delaware, Ohio, developed an opioid addiction when he was 23, starting with prescription pills and moving to heroin. The overall cancer death rate dropped by 2.2 percent in 2018, a substantial decline. Rebecca Siegel, the scientific director of surveillance research at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, said the new data appeared to extend gains from 2017, when the overall cancer mortality rate drop was the largest since record-keeping began around 1930.

Source: New York Times January 30, 2020 04:52 UTC