Posted on June 10, 2017 at 6:27 AM
eletters@starledger.com
More Americans died of drug overdoses last year alone than in the entire Vietnam war, according to Vox and the New York Times. More than ever died of guns or car crashes in a single year, even at the peak of those epidemics.
That’s according to a chilling Times investigation based on preliminary data collected from 2016. Overdose deaths rose 19 percent over the 52,404 recorded in 2015, to somewhere between 59,000 to 65,000.
The final numbers aren’t out yet, since drug deaths take a long time to certify. You see why timely data is crucial. So far, all evidence points to 2017 being even worse, but by the time the boxes are checked and the final reports are filed, thousands more will be dead.
