Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker traveled to Nashville Thursday to speak about the ongoing efforts to combat the opioid crisis, saying the city will serve as the southern hub for the Appalachian regional prescription strike force.

In 2017, some 70,000 people died from overdoses – the highest drug-related death toll in American history. According to Whitaker,more people died this last year from drug overdoses than in car crashes.

He called the opioid crisis the “deadliest drug crisis in American history.”

For the third year in a row, life expectancy has declined in the U.S., largely in part to the drug epidemic. For perspective, Whitaker says the last time life expectancy declined three straight years was a century ago during the height of World War I and the flu pandemic. He acknowledged that Appalachia has been especially hit hard by the crisis.