Increase in Fatal Poisonings Involving Opioid Analgesics in the United States, 1999-2006

Warner M, Chen LH, Makuc DM. Increase in fatal poisonings involving opioid analgesics in the United States, 1999-2006. NCHS data brief, no 22. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2009.

“From 1999 through 2006, the number of fatal poisonings involving opioid analgesics more than tripled from 4,000 to 13,800 deaths.
Opioid analgesics were involved in almost 40% of all poisoning deaths in 2006. “

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db22.htm