Drug Induced Deaths in the U.S. Far West Region

There were over 74,500 drug induced deaths in the United States in 2019, or about 22.7 deaths per 100,000 population.  About 95% of these deaths stemmed from drug overdoses, both intentional and accidental.  In the twenty year period from 1999 to 2019, the volume of drug induced deaths nationally jumped by more than 50,000 per year and the death rate per 100,000 population increased more than threefold. 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 U.S. Far West region was not as intense as it was in some other regions of the country.  Once a region with more drug induced deaths per 100,000 than the national average in 1999, by 2019 the region's drug induced death rate was more than 20% lower than 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 U.S. Far West region.:

Drug Induced Deaths in the U.S. Far West Region

Area/Deaths	1999	2009	2019
AK	56	133	149
CA	3,091	4,290	6,668
HI	83	148	266
NV	236	555	690
OR	329	576	761
WA	596	1,031	1,416
Region	4,391	6,733	9,950
U.S.	19,128	39,147	74,511
Area/Death Rate*	1999	2009	2019
AK	9.0	19.0	20.4
CA	9.2	11.6	16.9
HI	6.9	11.0	18.8
NV	12.2	20.7	22.4
OR	9.7	15.1	18.0
WA	10.2	15.5	18.6
Region	9.4	12.9	17.6
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