This Chart Shows How An Insane Number Of Americans Die From Drugs Or Alcohol-Related Causes Every Year

An interactive chart from Withdrawal.net shows just how deadly drugs and alcohol can be.

The chart maps causes of death and shows the average age at which people die of these causes. Drug overdoses are the second-most common causes of death, ahead of car accidents and suicide, and they claim some of the youngest victims.

Breast cancer is the only cause of death that takes more lives than drug overdoses.

The chart uses data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The vertical axis shows the number of Amerasians killed every year, while the horizontal axis shows how young they were when they died. The Yellow lines are alcohol-related deaths, while the orange ones are drug-related.

You can see the large, early bump for drugs. Check it out, and visit the interactive chart for more details:

Opiates are the deadliest drug, with close to 20,000 deaths per year, but alcohol kills more people than any individual drug. Heroin and cocaine rank lower on the chart than any cause of death related to alcohol.

Prescription opiates have become the biggest drug problem in the U.S. - pills are abused more widely than heroin and cocaine combined.