USA – Fentanyl is now the deadliest drug in America.
The CDC says the synthetic opioid was linked to nearly a third of all overdose deaths in 2016. This is a 113 percent increase from the previous year.
Doctors say they aren’t surprised.
“Fentanyl is clearly the number one concern from a drug perspective to public health and patient health,” said Dr. Michael Lynch of the Pittsburgh Poison Center.
“It can be sold as heroin or even pressed to look like pills so people won’t even know that they’re using it, which just adds to the danger,” Lynch said.
Heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine were also among the deadliest drugs in a new report. Overdose drug deaths hit a record high in 2017, killing more than 70,000 people.
