MIAMI, United States — The US opioid epidemic is accelerating, with hospital emergency room visits for overdoses from drugs like heroin, fentanyl and prescription painkillers up 30 percent from 2016 to 2017, US officials said Tuesday. Substantial increases in overdoses were seen nationwide, said the report released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Long before we receive data from death certificates, emergency department data can point to alarming increases in opioid overdoses,” said CDC acting director Anne Schuchat. “Opioid overdoses increased for men and women, all age groups, and all regions,” said the report. The report did not go into whether opioid deaths also rose during the same period studied, since death certificate data can take longer to gather.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer March 06, 2018 23:48 UTC