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Overdose deaths remain a leading cause of injury-related death in the United States
The majority of overdose deaths involve opioids. Deaths involving synthetic opioids (largely illicitly made fentanyl) and stimulants (such as cocaine and methamphetamine) have increased in recent years and spiking during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Opioid Epidemic Explained
Additional Movies and Series
On Netflix
Recovery Boys, follows four young men struggling to recover from opioid addiction over a year and a half at Jacob’s Ladder, a farming-based recovery center in Aurora, West Virginia.
On Hulu
Dopesick, a show series based on the nonfiction book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted Americans
Poisoned, ABC’s Bob Woodruff travels across a nation in crisis to uncover the epidemic of fentanyl poisoning.
National Response
Drug overdose deaths can be prevented. See how CDC is working to prevent overdoses and substance use-related harms with the following strategies.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services page highlights current federal activities that support prevention by expanding research of new and improved prevention efforts, investing in community resources to help prevent harms related to substance use, increasing access to high-quality pain management to reduce preventable suffering, and promoting responsible prescription of medications to protect patient safety.