Drug Induced Deaths in New England

There were over 74,500 drug induced deaths in the United States in 2019, or about 22.7 drug induced deaths per 100,000 population.  Drug overdoses, both intentional and accidental, accounted for almost 95% of these fatalities.  In the twenty years from 1999 to 2019, the drug induced death rate per 100,000 population more than tripled nationally.  While all regions of the country experienced sharp increases in the number of drug induced deaths in the twenty years from 1999 to 2019, the experience in the six-state New England region was particularly bad.  During the same twenty year period that the national drug induced death rate more than tripled, in New England the death rate more than quadrupled.  From a drug induced death rate per 100,000 population that was already over 11% above the national average in 1999, by 2019 the region's drug induced death rate was more than 43% above the national average rate.  A review of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, reveals the following about drug induced deaths in the New England region.:

Drug Induced Deaths in New England

Area/Deaths	1999	2009	2019
CT	330	397	1,263
MA	512	916	2,312
ME	70	182	391
NH	62	172	420
RI	61	168	312
VT	31	57	142
Region	1,066	1,892	4,840
U.S.	19,128	39,147	74,511
Area/Death Rate*	1999	2009	2019
CT	9.7	11.1	35.4
MA	8.1	14.1	33.5
ME	5.5	13.7	29.1
NH	5.1	13.1	30.9
RI	5.9	15.9	29.5
VT	5.1	9.1	22.8
Region	7.7	13.1	32.6
U.S.	6.9	12.8	22.7

(*) number of drug induced deaths per 100,000 population

Source: CDC Wonder. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2019 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released in 2020. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2019, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed on June 5, 2021