71,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year, a new record that predates the Covid-19 crisis, which the White House and many experts believe will drive such deaths even higher.
Preliminary numbers released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the trend is driven by fentanyl and similar synthetic opioids, which accounted for 36,500 overdose deaths. Deaths involving cocaine and methamphetamine also are rising.
30 states showed rising overdose deaths.
Brendan Saloner, an addiction researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said: “I see a map of despair.”
A cluster of states in the north-east – Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island – saw declines. These are states that have shown commitment to preventing overdoses among active drug users and getting people into treatment when they are ready, Saloner noted.
The data predates the Covid-19 crisis and so many experts believe this will drive such deaths even higher.
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