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Fatalities From Drug Overdoses Plateau In California

Deaths from drug overdoses shot up by 35 percent in the United States between the year ending in May 2015 and that ending in May 2017, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis of statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But in California and several other Western states, there were no significant changes in the number of deaths, and some states even saw small reductions. About 4,600 Californians died in each of the two years that were compared, according to the data.

For more, read Pauline Bartolone’s coverage.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

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