Nashville Metro Area Ranks 2nd In Country For Overdose Deaths In 2022, Tennessee Makes Top 10 List Nationally
Image Credit: Paul Brennan / Public Domain
The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
Davidson County ranks as the second-deadliest major metropolitan area in the country with 754 people dying from drug overdoses last year.
More than 77% of those cases were linked to fentanyl.
The United States has seen a continual increase in drug overdoses since 1999 with 75% of the deaths in 2021 coming from opioid usage.
2022 data compiled by the San Francisco Chronicle shows that Davidson County falls second only to Baltimore in metro areas with more than 500,000 residents. Shelby County comes in at number 12.
According to data from the Metro Public Health Department, deaths from overdose have more than doubled since 2017. Davidson County actually has the highest number of overdose deaths in the state.
Data also shows that Shelby, Knox, Hamilton and Rutherford counties show 608, 532, 233 and 113 deaths respectively in 2022.
In Davidson County last year, roughly 100 people per 100,000 died from an overdose.
77 percent of those deaths were caused by fentanyl. Cocaine was present in about 30 percent of the cases while methamphetamine was found in 33 percent.
Tennessee also ranks in the top ten states for overdose deaths in the entire country.
The CDC reported 3,854 overdose deaths across the state of Tennessee in 2022. This places Tennessee at eighth in the country.
According to the Tennessee Department of Health, fentanyl continues to be the most commonly seen drug in overdose cases. However, prescription painkillers were found in just as many cases in 2021 as in 2017, despite a decrease in the years between.
More than 4.3 million painkillers were prescribed in 2022 in the state of Tennessee. The number has been decreased from 2018 when about 6.1 million were prescribed. 17% of all overdoses involved prescription opioids.
The ten states with the highest number of reported deaths by overdose in 2022 are below:
1. California — 11094
2. Florida — 7675
3. New York — 6412
4. Texas — 5429
5. Pennsylvania — 5201
6. Ohio — 5141
7. North Carolina — 4030
8. Tennessee — 3854
9. Illinois — 3831
10. Michigan — 2956
There are a number of recovery support services available throughout the state. Residents who fall at or below the federal poverty level can receive services through the state’s Addiction Recovery Program. They offer assessment, case management, spiritual support, transitional housing placements, employment training and other services.
Even in Red States, every city is run by the Demonrats, that is why they are all cesspools of crime, death and destruction. I wonder if people will ever put 2 & 2 together and realize what party is always a failure.