Last year, as the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the country, overdose deaths rose more than 30%, compared to the previous year, according to the latest CDC report.[1]
Higher than any other overdose toll on record, approximately 100,000 U.S. citizens succumbed to drug overdoses this past year. U.S. health officials link this to both the ongoing pandemic and an all-too-often dangerously tainted drug supply.[2]
While statistics show the past 20 years have seen increases in drug-related deaths, they’ve risen more dramatically in the last two years and, per this latest CDC report, nearly a 30% spike this past year.[3]
U.S. drug officials say this surge of overdose deaths is predominantly associated with the increasing presence of fentanyl found in “street drugs,” and the COVID-19 pandemic, a phenomenon that left countless drug users socially cut off and unable to receive treatment or other necessary supportive services.
Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, told CNN, “What we’re seeing are the effects of these patterns of crisis and the appearance of more dangerous drugs at much lower prices. In a crisis of this magnitude, those already taking drugs may take higher amounts and those in recovery may relapse. It’s a phenomenon we’ve seen and perhaps could have predicted.”[4]
Katherine Keyes, a Columbia University expert on drug abuse issues, stated, “The number is devastating. It’s a magnitude of overdose death that we haven’t seen in this country.”[5]
While deaths associated with COVID-19 totaled 509,000 during this same period (according to Johns Hopkins University data), the rise in drug overdose deaths brought the total to more than the combined U.S. deaths from automobile crashes, guns, flu and pneumonia.[6]
The CDC report says the data indicates many of the drug overdose deaths found fentanyl present, a highly addictive and lethal opioid, which eclipsed heroin five years ago as the type of drug associated with the greatest number of deadly drug overdoses. Given fentanyl has been increasingly blended into other drugs, overdose deaths are also rising from methamphetamines and cocaine use.[7]
Neither racial nor ethnic breakdowns of the drug overdose victims have been calculated yet, according to the CDC. However, their report found “the estimated death toll rose in all but four states — Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey and South Dakota — compared with the same period a year earlier.”[8]
The states with the highest drug overdose death rate increase were Vermont (70%), West Virginia (62%) and Kentucky (55%). The state of Minnesota’s drug-associated death rate rose nearly 40%, given an estimated 1,200 drug deaths between May 2020 and April 2021, up from less than 900 in the prior 12-month period.
Lt. Jeff Wersal of the Mankato Police Department, who leads a regional drug task force, said, “I honestly don’t see it getting better, not soon.”[9]
[1] CDC National Center for Health Statistics. “Drug Overdose Deaths Top 100,000 Annually.” Nov. 17, 2021.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] McPhillips, Deidre. “Drug overdose deaths top 100,000 annually for the first time, driven by fentanyl, CDC data show.” CNN. Nov. 17, 2021.
[5] Stobbe, Mike. “U.S. Overdose Deaths Topped 100,000 In One Year, Officials Say.” Associate Press. Nov. 17, 2021.
[6] McPhillips, Deidre. “Drug overdose deaths top 100,000 annually for the first time, driven by fentanyl, CDC data show.” CNN. Nov. 17, 2021.
[7] Stobbe, Mike. “U.S. Overdose Deaths Topped 100,000 In One Year, Officials Say.” Associate Press. Nov. 17, 2021.
[8] CDC National Center for Health Statistics. “Drug Overdose Deaths Top 100,000 Annually.” Nov. 17, 2021.
[9] Stobbe, Mike. “U.S. Overdose Deaths Topped 100,000 In One Year, Officials Say.” Associate Press. Nov. 17, 2021.
