We have finally reached a terrible milestone where more Americans are dying from drug overdoses than car accidents each year.
Car accidents used to be one of the leading causes of untimely death in America. But drug overdoses have now largely overshadowed that stat.
As Daily Caller reports:
More than 70,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2017, while about 37,000 people died from motor vehicle accidents, 64 percent of which were passenger vehicle occupants. Drug overdose deaths have outnumbered motor vehicle accident deaths since 2009.
The shocking claim was highlighted in a recent interview that CNN’s Jim Sciutto conducted with White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.
During the interview, the pair had this exchange:
“I work on the drug crisis every single day,” Conway told Sciutto. ”If you can mitigate the amount of drugs coming into this country, yes through ports of entry, but also coming not through the ports of entry, that would be a huge boon to this country that witnessed 72,000 deaths last year alone.”
“Now surpassing car accident deaths,” Sciutto added.
Daily Caller goes on to note that between 30,000 and 40,000 Americans die in car accidents every year. But last year drug overdoses reached around 72,000.
