DECATUR—An analysis of autopsies performed by the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office in 152 counties which drug overdose was the cause of death or a significant contributing factor in the death found there was a 10 percent increase in the number of prescription overdose deaths in 2010 compared to 2009.
Of the 729 drug overdose deaths in 2010, there were 560 deaths which involved only prescription drugs. The analysis also showed that 101 drug overdose deaths in 2010 involved only illicit drugs and 68 deaths were attributed to a combination of both prescription and illicit drugs.
In 2009, 508 of the 670 overdose deaths were attributed to prescription drugs only.
Deaths from illicit drugs only rose from 86 to 101 from 2009 to 2010 and deaths due to a mixture of prescription and illegal drugs dropped from 76 to 68 from 2009 to 2010
For overdose drug deaths in 2010, the drugs found through toxicology tests in the highest numbers were as follows:
Drug Number of deaths
Alprazolam 231
Oxycodone 171
Methadone 151
Hydrocodone 145
Cocaine 96
Morphine 87
Fentanyl 78
Methamphetamine 65
Diazepam 55
Diphenhydramine 55
These are just the top 10 of the 86 different drugs found in toxicology tests run on the 729 total overdose deaths. There were on average 2.5 drugs found for each death (1827 instances of the 86 different drugs found in the 729 deaths).
For all drug deaths, the numbers per age range for 2010 were as follows:
15 or younger: 5
15-24: 80
25-34: 115
35-44: 180
45-54: 226
55-64: 106
64 or older: 17
A breakdown by race and sex for 2010 for all drug overdose death follows:
White - 658 or 90.26 percent
Black - 64 or 8.78 percent
Hispanic - 7 or 0.96 percent
Females - 302 or 41.43 percent
Males - 427 or 58.57 percent
A breakdown on the manner of death for 2010 drug overdose deaths:
Type Number Percent
Accidental 646 88.61
Suicide 68 9.33
Undetermined 15 2.06
