Todays scene is driven almost completely by the drug culture, teenagers (who begin with marijuana) and young adults who have no physical injuries.
I'd guess 80% of the ODs in WV now occur in this group. Sure there is always the story of the injured miner, hooked on Percocet now using heroin but the EMTs are seeing younger addicts on their repeat runs.
Because of the money to be made at all levels, the drug culture is booming in America and ODs will soon triple after more than doubling this year. Narcan is the latest miracle to keep the culture on its exponential growth. Addicts do not fear death. They want the cheapest high. If someone ODs because of a particular cut, the dealer sees an increase in demand because the other addicts want that super high.
When a client goes into treatment, their insurance or source of funds is spreadsheeted to maximize payments for inpatient detox, then outpatient sober home living and counseling, to max out profit to the recovery industry. Then a relapse is planned to repeat that process. One addict can be milked for alot of money for several cycles of recovery particularly since the government pays though Obamacare. The cool thing about Narcan is you no longer have involuntary dropouts.
Marijuana edibles for preteens is all the rage now to begin the process to addiction even sooner.
Both obesity and drug addiction are the driving force in over half the American population. This will skyrocket as legalization and treatment expands.
99.999% of all pot smokers never go on to heroin.
Why are you trying to establish a link between the two?
Hasn't happened in the Netherlands and Portugal, where the death rate from drugs is less than one-tenth the rate of the US =>
http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/drug-use/by-country/