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NEW YORK (AP) – US health authorities have said the number of cocaine overdose deaths is on the rise.
Drug overdose deaths related to cocaine began to increase around 2012 and increased by 34% between 2016 and 2017.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the report on Thursday.
This increase reflects, at least in part, deaths from heroin, fentanyl and other opioid drugs. Many overdose deaths involve someone who has taken several different drugs, and the researchers found that nearly three-quarters of cocaine-related deaths in 2017 also involved opioids.
However, the study found that the number of deaths from cocaine was increasing even when opioids were not involved.
Health officials said that about 70,000 Americans had died of a drug overdose in 2017. Nearly 14,000 of the cocaine involved. Nearly 48,000 involved one type of opioid.
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