Regional Data & Tools

Regional Drug Trends

• 2013: Drug overdose deaths began rising due to increased fentanyl use.
• 2019: Overdose deaths rose sharply as fentanyl was increasingly mixed with other drugs, especially methamphetamine.
• 2023 overdose rates were highest in Tennessee, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Kentucky.
• Generally, the most affected group is white men in midlife.
• NFLIS data shows that methamphetamines are the most present in drug chemistry testing followed by fentanyl.
• NIBRS data shows that arrests peak around age 33-34 and decline gradually thereafter.

This dashboard is organized into multiple sections, each highlighting different data types, including overdose mortality, drug chemistry results, and drug-related crime. The overdose mortality data is featured in Overdose Deaths Overview (CDC), Overdose Death Data by State (CDC), and Overdose Deaths by Region/County (CDC), which provide crude rates and the number of deaths. Overdose Death Data by State (CDC) includes demographic details such as gender, age, ethnicity, and race. Overdose Deaths by Region/County (CDC) allows users to explore the impact of the opioid crisis at the county level, provided there are at least 10 overdoses reported. The Drug Chemistry (NFLIS) section highlights the top substances seized by law enforcement in the region by state. The Drug-Related Crime (NIBRS) section presents data on drug-related arrests and arrestees in the region by state.

This data visualization incorporates data from the following sources:

• CDC WONDER – CDC WONDER provides health-related data, including nationwide birth and mortality statistics, through a query system. Users can query data based on various criteria such as time (e.g., year, month), location (e.g., state, county), and demographic variables (e.g., age range, sex, ethnicity, race) to generate stratified aggregates. All drug- and opioid-related mortality data span 2010–2023 for the 17 SR-DDRC states. Please note that CDC WONDER provides stratified aggregates with suppression of cases if the total is less than 10 but greater than 0. As such, certain aggregates at varying levels of stratification may not be available, so as to prevent identification of values.
• FBI’s NIBRS Program - The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) provides incident-based crime reports, that feature information related to offense types, property damage, the demographics data when applicable, and weapons used. Users are able to download NIBRS data files by year and state. Arrest and arrestee information for drug-related crimes (i.e., Drug/Narcotic Violations and Drug Equipment Violations) span 2018–2023 for the 17 SR-DDRC states. Please note that data availability varies by state and year, depending on when state agencies began submitting data.
• DEA's NFLIS Program - The National Forensic Laboratory Information Systems (NFLIS) provides drug chemistry (NFLIS-Drug) results from participating federal, state, and local forensic laboratories via their publicly available query system, NFLIS Public Data Query System (DQS). Users can query NFLIS DQS using various criteria, such as time (e.g., year, period), location (e.g., nationwide, state), and substance (e.g., categories, specific types), to generate stratified aggregates. Drug chemistry data from the DEA NFLIS program span 2010–2023 for the 17 SR-DDRC states.