# 28

Heroin accounted for the most deaths. But fatalities related to the powerful synthetic painkiller fentanyl, which is often mixed in heroin, unbeknownst to users, saw the biggest spike.

Heroin deaths rose 68 percent to 566 in the first half of the year, and fentanyl deaths rose 268 percent to 446. Deaths from prescription opioid-based painkillers rose 10 percent to 210. Users who have overdosed and died are often found to have more than one drug in their system.  (taken from the below article)

Every death reported in the below article represents a solitary life.  Each of those souls had a point in their life which could be referred to as "the day before addiction" when they were clean....with one exception; some could have been born to mothers who were also addicts and, as babies, these souls may have never seen a day before addiction.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/blog/bs-hs-maryland-overdose-deaths-20160922-story.html