Fentanyl Surpasses Heroin as Deadliest Drug

NBC Nightly News reported on the “stark warning from the CDC” that fentanyl “has surpassed heroin as the deadliest drug in America for the first time ever.” NBC’s Katie Beck: “The potent opioid [was] responsible for more than 18,000 deaths in 2016, and 29 percent of all overdose deaths – up from four percent in 2011. In each year from 2013 to 2016, the rate of fentanyl overdose deaths rose 113 percent per year.”

Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) tweeted, “We’ve taken significant federal action to combat fentanyl – including cutting off foreign shipments and giving our local communities the resources they need to get these deadly drugs off our streets. This report is a heartbreaking reminder that our work is not done.”

From the news release of the American Association for Justice.