drug poisoning deaths

The figure above shows the rates of drug poisoning deaths involving heroin, by selected age and racial/ethnic groups, in the United States during 2002 and 2011. In the decade from 2002 to 2011, the number of drug poisoning deaths involving heroin doubled, from 2,089 deaths in 2002 to 4,397 deaths in 2011. In 2002, non-Hispanic blacks aged 45-64 years and Hispanics aged 45-64 years had the highest rates of drug poisoning deaths involving heroin (2.2 and 2.0 deaths per 100,000, respectively). In comparison, in 2011, non-Hispanic whites aged 18-44 years had the highest rate. From 2002 to 2011, the rate for non-Hispanic whites more than doubled for the 18-44 years age group (from 1.4 to 3.8 deaths per 100,000) and doubled for the 45-64 years age group (from 0.7 to 1.4 per 100,000). The rates for both age groups of Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks did not significantly change during the decade.