In 2014, 10,574 people died of heroin overdose while 15,778 died from an overdose of psychiatric medications, nearly 50% more.
We often hear the shocking fact that deaths from heroin increased nearly 5 fold (374%) between 1999 and 2014, but rarely – if ever – do we hear that deaths from psychiatric drug overdoses have increased nearly 4 fold (278%) over the same time period. The data are summarized in Figure 1.
The biggest killers are sedatives (benzodiazepines such as Xanax and Z-drugs such as Ambien), antidepressants, psychostimulants (Ritalin, amphetamine, and methamphetamine), and antipsychotics, in that order, as shown in Figure 2.
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