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Fentanyl is now the most commonly used drug involved in drug overdoses, according to a new government report. The latest numbers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics say that the rate of drug overdoses involving the synthetic opioid skyrocketed by about 113% each year from 2013 through 2016. The number of total drug overdoses jumped 54% each year between 2011 and 2016. In 2016, there were 63,632 drug overdose deaths. (Kounang, 12/12)

There were a total of 63,632 drug overdose deaths in 2016, with fentanyl found to be involved in nearly 29 percent of those cases, according to the report. By comparison, fentanyl was involved in only 4 percent of all drug fatalities in 2011. That year, oxycodone ranked first, involving 13 percent of all fatal overdoses. (Weixel, 12/12)

Back in 2011, oxycodone was the drug most commonly linked to overdose deaths. Starting in 2012 and lasting until 2015, heroin surpassed painkillers to become the drug most often involved. But then fentanyl, a synthetic opioid pain reliever 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine, infiltrated the American drug supply — what the CDC calls "the third wave" of the opioid epidemic. By 2016, overdose deaths involving fentanyl had become more common than any other. (Wamsley, 12/12)

A new effort in Maryland to prosecute more fentanyl cases in federal court is designed to help combat an alarming increase of fatalities caused by the potent synthetic opioid that's fueling the deadliest overdose epidemic in U.S. history. Fentanyl — a synthetic opioid both cheap to produce and up to 50 times more powerful than heroin — was the driving force behind Maryland's all-time high number of drug fatalities last year, rising from 1,119 in 2016 to 1,594 in 2017. But this year's projected total exceeds 2,000 deaths from fentanyl, a 25 percent increase from last year's grim milestone. (McFadden, 12/12)

Opioid use among patients seeking pregnancy-related care at Pennsylvania hospitals has risen significantly since 2000, according to new data published by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4). The research brief, published this week, showed that opioid use was present in one in every 51 maternal hospital stays — hospital visits for deliveries or other pregnancy-related issues — in the state in 2016 and 2017. (Whelan, 12/12)

Gov. Chris Sununu and state health officials are now investing heavily in a new system they say will significantly improve care for those struggling with addiction. This so-called "hub and spoke" plan kicks off at the start of the new year. Now, with that launch date just weeks away, NHPR’s Britta Greene and Sarah Gibson having been reporting on how the effort is taking shape. (Greene and Gibson, 12/12)