Drug Overdoses Killed 72,000 Americans Last Year: CDC

Drug overdoses rose 10 percent last year, killing an estimated 72,000 Americans, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

More Americans are using opioids, and the drugs are becoming more deadly as fentanyl is increasingly mixed into heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine, The New York Times reports.

The CDC reported that overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids such as fentanyl increased sharply, while deaths from heroin, prescription opioid painkillers and methadone decreased.

Overdose deaths increased by more than 17 percent in Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia, while New Jersey saw an increase of 27 percent.