Disturbing new data shows fentanyl death toll has skyrocketed
Fentanyl seems to make headlines every day somewhere in the United States.
There was the "deadly crisis" in South Florida, the 23 killed in Buffalo from a lethal batch of fentanyl-laced heroine and then its connection to Prince's death.
And those are just a few.
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The latest stories are out of Ohio and Indiana, where authorities suspect fentanyl-laced heroin contributed to the overdose deaths of 75 people across those two states since Aug. 19.
Heroin users, and those addicted to painkillers, often turn to fentanyl for a much more potent high.
Fentanyl is a "synthetic opioid 50-100 times more potent than morphine," according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Heroin users, and those addicted to painkillers, often turn to fentanyl for a much more potent high.
Hard data on fentanyl's increased presence throughout the nation has been difficult to come by, though a new CDC report released Thursday will begin to change that. The report compiles synthetic opioid overdose data from 27 states and from its findings, characterizes the jump in deaths as an epidemic.
The report doesn't differentiate between all deaths caused by fentanyl and other synthetic opioids across each state, because fentanyl deaths are not always specified when reported, but the numbers are nonetheless disturbing. And even more so in the states that do have specific data on fentanyl-related deaths.
The "epidemic is unprecedented in scope."
From 2013 to 2014, the amount of synthetic opioid "products" seized by law enforcement in the examined states spiked 426 percent, and deaths caused by or involving synthetic opioids shot up 79 percent.
Though fentanyl -- which is made in medical labs but also often made illegally -- and other synthetic opioid overdose deaths are a problem throughout the country, they have hit the following states especially hard: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland and North Carolina.
Six of those eight states -- Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Ohio -- recorded fentanyl deaths separately from other synthetic opioid deaths in that time period, and the data shows fentanyl contributed to far more opioid deaths than other synthetic opioids.
Fentanyl deaths shot up from 392 in 2013 to 1,400 in 2014 in those states. The increase in all synthetic opioid deaths -- including fentanyl -- went from 589 to 1,555 in the same period.
The U.S. dealt with a rash of fentanyl deaths between 2005 and 2007 as well, but the CDC believes data shows this outbreak is different.
A decade ago, the deaths were confined to certain geographic areas. This time, according to the report, the "epidemic is unprecedented in scope."
Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
