Oklahoma Counties With The Worst Drug Problems and Most Fatal Overdoses

While fentanyl is experiencing an Oklahoma glow-up, cheap and readily available old-fashioned meth is the drug of choice in the Sooner State. It also causes a vast majority of fatal our overdoses.

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Overdosing is on the rise again.

In the years leading up to the pandemic, overdoses in the Sooner State were actually on the decline. With a booming economy and record-low unemployment, Okies were loving life.

When the pandemic popped off five years ago, Oklahoma fell victim to the fallout along with the rest of the world. Unemployment skyrocketed overnight, social lives were diminished in an instant, depression rose across the country, and then historic inflation pushed a lot of us back into the lowest class of earners.

As if Joe Exotic himself planned it, Oklahoma hopped back on the white tiger. As a result, Oklahoma's fatal overdose rate shot up a shocking 67%.

Statistical quick hits.

The age group experiencing the highest number of fatal overdoses is the younger members of Gen-X. Ages 45-54, and of those, biological males were 90% more likely to die than females.

Politicians have been playing fentanyl up as the biggest threat to Americans recently, and that tracks in the Sooner State. While deaths due to Dragons Breath are only the third highest cause of death in drug-related Oklahoma overdoses, that statistic has increased by 600% in just two years.

Opioids--both heroin and pill-popping--are the second-highest cause of accidental death in recreational drug users.

Meth use has also skyrocketed over the same period of time, nearly doubling. It's also responsible for more than double the death toll of opioids.

While the numbers are constantly changing, here are the most up-to-date stats of Sooner State counties with the highest amount of fatal overdoses.