Tennessee sets record with 1,631 overdose deaths in 2016


              FILE - This Feb. 19, 2013 file photo shows OxyContin pills arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt. A report found drug overdose deaths among U.S. teens inched up in 2015 after years of decline. The report was released on Wednesday, August 16, 2017 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)
FILE - This Feb. 19, 2013 file photo shows OxyContin pills arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt. A report found drug overdose deaths among U.S. teens inched up in 2015 after years of decline. The report was released on Wednesday, August 16, 2017 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Health officials say Tennessee saw a record number of overdose deaths in 2016.

A state Department of Health news release Monday says 1,631 Tennesseans died from drug overdoses last year, a 12 percent increase from 1,451 in 2015.

Department of Health Commissioner John Dreyzehner says state data show illicit drugs, including fentanyl, are driving the increase. Fentanyl-related deaths increased 74 percent, from 169 to 294, from 2015 to 2016.

The biggest fentanyl-related increase came in people ages 25 to 34, where 42 recorded deaths in 2015 increased to 114 last year.

Officials say heroin was associated with 260 deaths in 2016, a 26 percent increase over the previous year.

Deaths where both opioids and stimulants, such as methamphetamine, were used jumped from 65 in 2015 to 111 in 2016.

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