Visualizing the Impact of the Opioid Overdose Crisis

The interactive graphics allow readers to explore how the crisis of overdose deaths involving opioid use has not only grown in magnitude since 2000, but has also changed in character. While the opioid crisis initially affected White Americans more, the demographics have been shifting and the opioid death rate among Black Americans and American Indians or Alaska Natives surpassed other racial and ethnic groups in recent years. 

Synthetic drugs, primarily fentanyl, continue to be the main drivers of opioid overdose deaths. Provisional data through early 2022 illustrates the growing burden of deaths involving synthetic opioids during the pandemic.