Which drugs are involved in US overdose deaths?

In the 12 months ending May 2026, fentanyl and other synthetic opioids were involved in 33,959 US overdose deaths, more than any other drug, followed by methamphetamine and other stimulants (23,939) and cocaine (18,911). Many deaths involve more than one drug and count once for each, so the bars add up to more than the total number of overdose deaths. The counts are provisional, and the latest months are slightly undercounted while investigations finish.

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Key facts

Measure: Overdose deaths involving the drug in 12 months. Written from the data below.

  • Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids has the highest figure, 33,959, followed by Methamphetamine and other stimulants (23,939) and Cocaine (18,911).
  • Heroin has the lowest figure, 1,684, followed by Methadone (3,327) and Prescription opioids such as oxycodone (6,852).
  • The highest is 20 times the lowest.

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Source and date

Source
CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Provisional drug overdose death counts
License
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “Which drugs are involved in US overdose deaths?” Chart. Data: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Provisional drug overdose death counts, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm (data as of May 31, 2026). https://chart.ly/charts/overdose-deaths-by-drug (accessed November 4, 2026).

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The data

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The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly. Developers can also get them as JSON (how).

Drug involved Overdose deaths involving the drug in 12 months
Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids 33,959
Methamphetamine and other stimulants 23,939
Cocaine 18,911
Prescription opioids such as oxycodone 6,852
Methadone 3,327
Heroin 1,684

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