Drug overdose deaths surpassed 72,000 in 2017, according to provisional estimates recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That represents an increase of more than 6,000 deaths, or 9.5 percent, over the estimate for the previous 12-month period.

That staggering sum works out to about 200 drug overdose deaths every single day, or 1 every 8 minutes.

The increase was driven primarily by a continued surge in deaths involving synthetic opioids, a category that includes fentanyl. There were nearly 30,000 deaths involving those drugs in 2017, according to the preliminary data, an increase of more than 9,000 over the prior year.

Deaths involving cocaine also shot up significantly, putting the stimulant on par with drugs like heroin and the category of natural opiates that includes painkillers like oxycodone and hydrocodone. One potential spot of good news is that deaths involving those latter two drug categories appear to have flattened out, suggesting the possibility that opiate mortality may be at or nearing its peak.

The CDC cautions these figures are early estimates based on monthly death records processed by the agency. The CDC adjusts these figures to correct for underreporting, since some recorded deaths are still pending full investigation. Final mortality figures are released at the end of the following calendar year.

Geographically the deaths are distributed similarly to how they’ve been in prior years, with parts of Appalachia and New England showing the highest mortality rates. Once again the highest rates were seen in West Virginia, with 58.7 overdose deaths for every 100,000 residents. D.C. (50.4), Pennsylvania (44.1), Ohio (44.0) and Maryland (37.9).

At the other end of the spectrum the Plains states had some of the lowest death rates.

opioids