The opioid epidemic is now a bigger public health and safety threat than car crashes.
For the first time in history, Americans are more likely to die from opioid overdoses than car crashes, according to a new report from the National Safety Council.
Based on 2017 data, people in the US have a 1 in 103 chance of dying in a motor vehicle crash over their lifetime, but a 1 in 96 chance of dying of an opioid overdose.
In comparison, a person has a 1 in 6 chance of dying of heart disease, a 1 in 7 chance of dying of cancer, a 1 in 285 chance of dying of a gun assault, a 1 in 1,117 chance of dying by drowning, a 1 in 188,364 chance of dying in a plane crash, and a 1 in 218,106 chance of getting killed by lightning.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the age-adjusted motor vehicle death rate hit 11.5 per 100,000 people in 2017, down from a recent peak of 15.2 in 2002.
By contrast, opioid overdose deaths — now largely driven by illicit fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that’s spread in black markets for drugs — hit an age-adjusted rate of 14.9 per 100,000 in 2017, up from 2.9 in 1999.
Preliminary numbers for 2018 indicate that the overdose death rate may have leveled off earlier in the year, although that would still leave drug overdose deaths at record or near-record rates.
The opioid epidemic began in the 1990s, when pharmaceutical marketing and lobbying led doctors to prescribe far more opioid painkillers — leading to the first wave of overdose deaths as more people, including both patients and people who stole, bought, or borrowed painkillers from patients, misused the drugs and got addicted.
