Special Report

This Is the Oklahoma County With the Worst Drug Problem

Hristina Byrnes, Grant Suneson

Published: March 4, 2021 10:16 am

Last Updated: March 4, 2021 1:11 pm

The U.S. has experienced a massive surge in drug addiction, and consequently fatal overdoses, in recent years. In 1999, the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported an age-adjusted rate of 6.1 fatal overdoses per 100,000 Americans. By 2019, that figure had more than tripled to 21.6 fatal drug overdoses per 100,000 people.

While this problem has affected every part of the country, certain areas struggle with an outsized share of drug overdose deaths. To determine the county with the worst drug problem in every state, 24/7 Tempo reviewed the annual average number of drug-related deaths per 100,000 residents in all U.S. counties and county equivalents from 2015 to 2019, using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Addiction and drug use are complicated and multifaceted issues that touch Americans nationwide and at all socioeconomic levels. Still, the counties that have the worst drug problems tend to have certain characteristics in common, including relatively lower income, higher unemployment, and higher poverty. This is the poorest county in every state.

With an average of 38 drug overdose deaths a year per 100,000 residents, Oklahoma’s Johnston County has the highest overdose mortality rate in the state. The county shares similar socioeconomic characteristics with counties in other states with the highest drug overdose death rate, including some of the highest poverty and unemployment rates of all 77 counties in the state

Accidental drug overdoses are among the leading causes of preventable death in the U.S. The premature death rate in Johnston County is one of the highest in Oklahoma, at 597 deaths before the age of 75 per 100,000 residents.

As Americans have looked for answers as to how the drug problem in the country has gotten so severe, much of the blame has been placed on large pharmaceutical companies — particularly Purdue Pharma. The company began selling the painkiller OxyContin in 1996. Since then, the company has paid over $10 billion to settle a litany of lawsuits that claimed Purdue deceived patients and doctors about the risks of becoming addicted to the drug when advertising it. These are America’s most hated companies.