70,630. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, that is the number of drug-involved overdose deaths in the United States in 2019. With such a high number of Americans dying every year from opioid addiction, there is unquestionably a need for further support systems to prevent addiction and abuse. 

However, a new study reports that support systems available for Americans may be more severely needed in some cities than in others. Based on the new report, residents of Las Vegas, Nev., Oklahoma City, Okla., and Buffalo, N.Y. are in greater need of addiction services than residents in any other American city. 

The results come from the study’s evaluation of major American cities for a variety of factors that include evidence of high levels of substance abuse and measurements of access to addiction services, for which each city received a score from 1-100. Las Vegas’  score was a striking 82.6, with factors like unemployment, drug arrests per 100,00 people as well as very few addiction centers contributing to a high count. 

While the top three cities spread across a wide geographic area, it is worth noting that most of the top 20 cities were located in the South, including Nashville, Orlando, and Atlanta. While these cities represent urban environments with high drug use, opioid addiction in poor rural communities across the South is a major issue that has been the focus of national concern for the past couple of decades. 

The study also examined states with the highest needs for addiction services and noted that many Southern states needed addiction services more than anywhere else. The states that needed more addiction support the least included Vermont, Alaska, and Massachusetts. 

You can check out the full study here and read about the state of drug addiction in the United States through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration here.