Deadliest states for drug overdoses

What are America's deadliest states for drug overdoses?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publishes annual data on drug-overdose death rates in every state.  8.7 per 100,000 residents  10.5 deaths per 100,000 residents 10.8 deaths per 100,000 residents 11.4 deaths per 100,000 residents 11.5 deaths per 100,000 residents 13.1 deaths per 100,000 residents 13.5 deaths per 100,000 residents 13.6 deaths per 100,000 residents 14 deaths per 100,000 residents 14.1 deaths per 100,000 residents 14.1 deaths per 100,000 residents 14.2 deaths per 100,000 residents 14.3 deaths per 100,000 residents 15 deaths per 100,000 residents 15.1 deaths per 100,000 residents 15.8 deaths per 100,000 residents 15.9 deaths per 100,000 residents 16.3 deaths per 100,000 residents 16.7 deaths per 100,000 residents 17.8 deaths per 100,000 residents 18 deaths per 100,000 residents 18.2 deaths per 100,000 residents 18.3 deaths per 100,000 residents 18.9 deaths per 100,000 residents 20.1 deaths per 100,000 residents 21.1 deaths per 100,000 residents 21.9 deaths per 100,000 residents 22.3 deaths per 100,00 residents 22.7 deaths per 100,000 residents 23.8 deaths per 100,000 residents 24.4 deaths per 100,000 residents 25.5 deaths per 100,000 residents 26.6 deaths per 100,000 residents 26.8 deaths per 100,000 residents 26.9 deaths per 100,000 residents 28.3 deaths per 100,000 residents 29.5 deaths per 100,000 residents 29.9 deaths per 100,000 residents 30.2 deaths per 100,000 residents 31.2 deaths per 100,000 residents 31.7 deaths per 100,000 residents 32 deaths per 100,000 residents 32.1 deaths per 100,000 residents 32.5 deaths per 100,000 residents 34.7 deaths per 100,000 residents 35.6 deaths per 100,000 residents 38.2 deaths per 100,000 residents 38.3 deaths per 100,000 residents 48 deaths per 100,000 residents 52.8 deaths per 100,000 residents Here is a ranking of every state by overdose-related deaths for 2019, the most recent year available. There were 161 drug overdose deaths in Nebraska in 2019, 23 more than the state saw in the previous year. Former meth user Jeremy Bucholz speaks to South Dakota students about the addictive drug. In 2018, South Dakota had the fewest drug overdoses per capita in the United States. Then-President Donald Trump speaks during a visit to the U.S. Border Patrol's McAllen Station. Agents displayed bricks of heroin and meth wrapped in black tape. A police officer searches a car for drugs during a routine traffic stop in New Town, North Dakota. This recovering meth addict said he had to move more than 150 miles from his home to receive treatment. Paul Connell, CEO of a Rossville methadone clinic, shows one liquid dose of methadone, which is used to treat opioid addiction. A man is escorted from a medical clinic in Little Rock by Drug Enforcement Administration officers. The raid was part of a year-long DEA operation involving four states. In 2009, 18 people were arrested in connection with what, at the time, was considered Mississippi's largest meth distribution ring. Business owners near this Portland park have complained to authorities about public drug use. Drug abuse has devastated many families on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Montana. Community leaders of the Wind River Indian Reservation hang posters warning against the dangers of drugs such as meth. An aid worker left a note with suggestions for maintaining a needle exchange program in a Minneapolis homeless camp. A deputy sheriff holds holds two bags of methamphetamine. A drug counselor hands out the overdose-antidote naloxone and fentanyl detection packets to people in an alley in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood. In 2018, an Idaho bill proposed a tax on opiates that would be used to fund addiction treatment centers. The bill was defeated. A dog trains to aid the Department of Homeland Security in detecting drugs along the U.S.-Canadian border. Vials of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone and clean syringes have been distributed in Honolulu to try to reduce deaths from overdoses. A forensic chemist studies an opioid mixture nicknamed "gray death."  This woman is one of many Cherokee people in Oklahoma to test positive for hepatitis C as a consequence of drug use. In 2017, the state of Alaska sued Purdue Pharma, the maker of the opioid OxyContin. Overdose deaths increased in Alaska in 2019 compared to the year before. Heroin overdose deaths doubled in Colorado between 2011 and 2015. In this photo, a doctor demonstrates how to inject a dose of life-saving naloxone. Here, protesters rally outside of Governor Andrew Cuomo's office in New York City in 2019. They accused him of neglecting drug overdose numbers in the state. An Alexandria man holds a photo of his nephew, who died in 2019 after overdosing on fentanyl. Recovering addicts and families who have lost loved ones to overdoses attend a 2017 press conference on the opioid crisis in Utah. This photo shows 212 pounds of meth seized in Las Vegas. Then Speaker of the House Paul Ryan holds a photo of a Wisconsin family whose son overcame addiction to prescription drugs. An Illinois firefighter treats an overdose victim as she is transported to a hospital. U.S. Marine Cpl. Robert Richards was buried at Arlington National Cemetery after he reportedly died of an accidental overdose in Jacksonville, North Carolina.  In Lexington County, deputies stopped field testing drugs in 2017 as a precautionary measure due to the dangers of handling powerful synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Now, chemists analyze the substances in a lab to determine their contents. A 23-year-old injects suboxone, an opioid that is sometimes prescribed to help recovering addicts cope with the symptoms of heroin withdrawal. Michigan officials speak to reporters after announcing a new state opioid unit in 2017. A Broward County sheriff's sergeant speaks to a woman to see if she is carrying the deadly synthetic drug flakka, categorized as bath salts. An Indiana mother plays with her son while discussing her struggle with addiction. This residential drug treatment center is located in Arizona. This Missouri woodworking business hires former drug users and felons to help them reintegrate into society. The Supreme Court ruled that police, like this officer in Louisiana, could legally use drug-sniffing dogs at traffic stops. An 11-foot, 800-pound sculpture of a burnt spoon is displayed outside a Rhode Island drugmaker's office to protest the opioid crisis. After a marked decrease in Maine's overdose deaths from 2017 to 2018, the state's overdose death rate again increased by 2 fatalities per 100,000 residents from 2018 to 2019. Albuquerque police officer Ryan Holets holds his adopted daughter, Hope. Holets persuaded a pregnant heroin user to let him adopt her unborn child. A Tennessee woman sits in a holding cell after being arrested on suspicion of drug possession. A recovering heroin addict in Camden points to a scar from injecting drugs. A New Hampshire firefighter helps a 35-year-old man who overdosed on heroin in 2018. A Gloucester police officer holds bags of heroin confiscated as evidence. A judge discusses a drug rehabilitation probation program with prisoners in Kentucky. A heroin user injects himself in New London in 2016. A man holds and injection of heroin by a railway underpass in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania's overdose death rate decreased slightly from 2018 to 2019. This photo was taken after a 2016 news conference on the opioid crisis in Baltimore. Medical workers and police treat a woman who has overdosed on heroin. Ohio's overdose death rate fell by 12.4 fatalities per 100,000 residents from 2017 to 2019. This photo, provided by Delaware State Police, shows 15,000 packets heroin found during a traffic stop in Delaware.  Two West Virginia men wait outside while police search an abandoned house used by addicts.