More people in Colorado died from one class of opioids than all homicides combined in 2015, according to data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment cited by the Denver Post.
"Natural" prescription opioids — drugs like hydrocodone and oxycodone — killed 259 Colorado residents in 2015. Homicides accounted for 205 deaths in the same year. Natural opioid deaths have outnumbered homicides in Colorado every year since 2011.
While Colorado is not one of the states hardest hit by the opioid epidemic, the numbers are indicative of a new national trend as the rates of opioid overdose deaths are beginning to rival what are believed to be more common ways to die.
According to the Post, when adding synthetic opioids and heroin to the count, opioid overdoses accounted for 472 deaths in Colorado in 2015, more than doubling the homicide rate.
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