This post was republished with permission from Zero Hedge
The National Safety Council reports that Americans are more likely to die from an opioid overdose than a car crash or suicide.
As Statista’;s Katharina Buchholz shows in the following chart, the likelihood of dying from opioid use in the U.S. increased from lifetime odds of one in 96 in 2017 to one in 57 in 2023 (down from one in 55 in 2022).
The same year, someone living in the U.S. only had one in 87 odds of dying of suicide and a one in 95 chance of dying in a car crash.

You will find more infographics at Statista
Potent and deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl – which is often mixed with heroin without the knowledge of drug users – contributed to this dismal development together with the ongoing crisis of prescription pain killer misuse.
The U.S. experienced 105,000 overdose deaths in 2023, down from 2022 after a severe uptick during the coronavirus pandemic.
The most likely cause of death in the U.S. continues to be heart disease with lifetime odds of 1 in 6, followed by cancer and stroke.
Covid-19 lifetime odds were similar to those of stroke in previous years, but are no longer reported by the source.
Despite being a common fear, the chances of dying due to gun assault stand at only one in 238, but are still greater than drowning or choking to death, which have odds of around one in 1,000 and one in 2,500, respectively.
Dying in a dog attack remains highly unlikely with the chances of that happening at one in 44,499.
Dying in a hurricane or tornado or any other storm event is actually more likely at one in 39,192.
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Opioid addiction – the problem that solves itself!
I don’t get it.
I personally don’t get it.
I’ve been prescribed “opioids” for pain management after surgeries.
I hardly used them because they (a) make me feel like I’m not in control of myself and (b) constipate me.
I have no interest in “losing control”.
I’ve never wanted to “get high” (in college someone spiked the food, I didn’t know and ate it, and I could feel myself “losing control” and “getting high” and I hated it, every moment).
I have no interest in being “wasted”.
From the friends I have helped through alcohol and drug abuse over the years, the “down” was always worse than anything they got “high” to escape; and the de-tox was hell on earth. And they made the right choice to STOP.
Why on God’s green earth would ANYONE abuse drugs?
I don’t get it.
But I do get this –
They are not the victims.
They were not forced.
They made their own [bad] choice(s). And continue to make that/those choices.
I will help them to clean up from their bad choices – ONCE.
After that…it’s a crime and they are criminally continuing to make bad choices. And only SERIOUS consequences for them will get them cleaned up, sober, and straight.