The record of more than 100,000 overdose deaths between April 2020
and April 2021, which U.S. President Joe Biden called "a tragic
milestone," represents a 28.5% jump from the previous 12 months,
according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
The Biden administration said it would push states to enact laws
making it easier for people to get access to naloxone, a drug that
can reverse opioid overdoses.
"No one should die from an overdose, and naloxone is one of the most
effective tools we have to save lives," said Dr. Rahul Gupta,
director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Biden said in a statement that even as the country battles against
the COVID-19 pandemic, "we cannot overlook this epidemic of loss"
from drug overdose deaths.
Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, director of the American Health Initiative at
the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which focuses
on addictions and overdose, said the peak of drug deaths hit in the
spring of 2020, early in the pandemic. He expects the year-on-year
overdose data to begin falling with July figures, but not by much.
"This is a momentous tragedy hidden by the pandemic," Sharfstein
said. "It's heartbreaking how many families have been affected by an
overdose this year."
Sharfstein said the surge in overdose deaths reflects two factors,
the first directly connected to pandemic disruptions that caused
intense stress for many people.
"A lot of (drug addiction) programs had to close or reduce their
hours or otherwise become less accessible during the pandemic,"
Sharfstein said. "So even as there was much more need, there was
less access to care in many places."
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The second is that the illegal
drug supply out on the streets has become
deadlier. That is mostly due to widespread
availability of fentanyl, which can be 100 times
more potent than morphine and is increasingly
being mixed with other drugs, such as cocaine,
without users knowing, as drug suppliers seek to
boost their effects.
Even minuscule amounts of fentanyl make the drugs
far more dangerous.
Sharfstein and other public health experts are calling on
governments at all levels to take the overdose epidemic as seriously
as they have confronted COVID-19, and to invest more in treatments
proven to work, like naloxone, and in real-time data that tracks
when and where overdoses are flaring up.
Data in July showed that last year's drug overdoses jumped 30% as
pandemic lockdowns made getting treatment difficult and dealers
laced more drugs with fentanyl or copycat versions of the potent
opioid.
The U.S. states with the biggest percentage spike in overdose deaths
were Vermont at 70%, followed by West Virginia (62.2%) and Kentucky
(54.5%). California, the most populous state, saw its overdoses
climb nearly 47.8%.
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Texas, and Manas Mishra in
Bengaluru; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Donna Bryson)
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