Between 2010 and 2013 alone, the number of deaths nearly tripled. Just over 8,200 Americans died from heroin overdoses in 2013, averaging 23 a day.
The abuse of prescription painkillers is one possible reason for the sharp increase in overdoses. A previous CDC study found that over 75 percent of people who started using heroin after 2000 previously abused prescription opioids like oxycodone and fentanyl. Many switched to heroin because it is chemically similar to those opioids, cheaper and relatively easy to get.
Broken down by gender, the death rate for males was nearly four times as high as that for women in 2013 - 6,525 compared to 1,723. Britain is experiencing a similar trend in terms of drug deaths - 2,098 males died from drug-related poisoning in 2013 compared to 923 females. Why is the gap between female and male deaths from drug abuse so pronounced?
In an interview with the Telegraph, Dr Adam Winstock, founder of the Global Drug Survey, explained that men are far more likely to take risks than women. Their lifestyles are unhealthier, they experience more accidents and are also less likely to consider the dangers of drug taking.
*Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)
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