The number of opioid overdose deaths in the United States has jumped by more than 300% in the last five years, with a staggering 6.3 million Americans now suffering from addiction to the drug, according to a new report.
The report from the National Center for Health Statistics, released Wednesday, shows the rate of opioid-related deaths is on pace to more than double between 2015 and 2020, from 2.7 to 4.2 million people.
That would put the country on pace for more than 9 million opioid deaths by 2020.
The opioid crisis has been blamed for more deaths than any other cause of death for the last four decades, with the number nearly quadrupling from 7,811 deaths in 1999 to a record 8,957 in 2020.
There are currently 5.4 million Americans living with opioid-induced chronic pain, according the report.
That’s nearly double the 4.5 million who suffered the same disease from 1999 to 2020.
And the number who have died is projected to rise to 13.7 million by 2025, up from 8.5 percent of the population.
That number includes more than half of those who are now dying from prescription painkillers like oxycodone, according a report from The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
While the opioid crisis is a national emergency, the numbers of opioid deaths have been rising.
Experts say the problem has gotten worse since the opioid epidemic was first identified in the late 1990s.
That is partly because the U.S. economy has been stagnant since the Great Recession, with wages stagnant, job growth stalling and a decline in the population that is contributing to the opioid overdose crisis.
More:Read more about opioid overdose in the newsThe opioid epidemic has affected every state in the country, from the West Coast to the South.
A report released Wednesday by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found nearly 50,000 people died of opioid overdoses in 2018.
Nearly 10,000 of those deaths were attributed to drug-related causes.
“This is a problem that needs to be addressed, not only in the U, but around the world,” said Dr. Jennifer T. O’Brien, the study’s lead author.
Opioids have been used by many for decades to treat a wide range of conditions, from asthma to chronic pain to anxiety.
But many are prescribed to treat chronic pain.
They are often added to other drugs, including painkillers, to help control their side effects.
But researchers said they were surprised by the increase in overdose deaths from prescription opioids.
“We were surprised that the most popular opioids were the most common prescription drugs,” said Andrew J. Zobrist, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington in Seattle.
O’Brien said the report’s findings were based on data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which collects information from nearly 1.3 billion people a year.
This data collection allows researchers to identify patterns of behavior and drug use that can be tied to opioid use, she said.
The number of prescription opioids that are used in the USA is expected to nearly triple by 2020, according this report.
More:Opioid use is rising and overdoses are on the rise.
Opioid overdose deaths have more than tripled since 1999, when they were 1.7 per 100,000 Americans.
The number who died from the disease has also doubled in the past five years from 3,054 to 6,735.
The data also showed the number addicted to prescription opioids increased by nearly 6,500 people over the same period, while the number on heroin has more than doubled.
The numbers show that the number in the US addicted to painkillers increased by more people than heroin, and the number hooked on prescription opioids doubled.
In the last two years, prescription painkiller overdose deaths increased by 50% compared to the previous two years.
The increase in prescription pain killer deaths also coincides with the resurgence of the opioid abuse epidemic.
In addition to the number prescribed opioids, the report found that prescription pain killers are increasingly being used to treat mental health problems, which are more common among white people.
And prescription pain pills are also more prevalent among women.
“These findings are troubling,” said Michael J. Matson, an epidemiologist with the CDC’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.
“We are seeing more prescriptions for painkillers in general and for pain medication for men than women.
And the number prescribing painkillers is rising among older white men.”
The new report found opioid deaths are now more common in the states that have legalized marijuana.
Marijuana has been used to help treat addiction and dependence and to treat severe pain.
Marijuana legalization has also helped fuel the opioid addiction epidemic.
In states where the drug has been legalized, more people are using prescription pain relievers to treat opioid use and the increase is driven by people who are more likely to be black, white and Hispanic.
Matson said more than 1 million people died from opioids in 2017, but that number