Drug related death rates are highest in the non-Hispanic White population.

Data Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention WONDER

Note: Age-adjusted rates are shown.  ICD-10 codes X40-X44, X60-X64, X85, Y10-Y14.

The issue of drug misuse and addiction has become a serious public health emergency for the United States over the past twenty years.   In 2021, almost 107,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, making overdoses cause more deaths than motor vehicle crashes.  Arkansas has also seen a rise in drug overdoses in recent years and in 2021, 637 Arkansans died from a drug overdose with opioids being the most widely identified drug.