U.S. overdose deaths reached a record 93K in last year’s pandemic

New York — In the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic, the US government reported Wednesday that overdose deaths surged to a record 93,000 last year.

That estimate is well above the previous year’s high of about 72,000 drug overdose deaths, an increase of 29%.

“This is a tremendous loss of life,” said Brandon Marshall, a public health researcher at Brown University who is tracking trends in overdose.

The country was already suffering from the worst overdose epidemics, but apparently “COVID has greatly exacerbated the crisis,” he added.

According to experts, blockades and other pandemic restrictions have made drug addicts isolated and difficult to treat.

Jordan McGrasen died last year from an overdose of drugs in an apartment in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He was sentenced to die on May 6, the day before his 39th birthday.

“It was really hard to think about how Jordan died. He felt alone, emotionally distressed and had to use it again,” he said in an obituary openly about his brother’s addiction. Said his younger brother, Colin McGrasen.

Jordan McGraschen’s death was due to heroin and fentanyl.

Prescription analgesics once caused an overdose epidemic in the country, but in recent years they have been replaced first by heroin and then by the dangerously powerful opioid fentanyl. Fentanyl was developed to treat severe pain caused by diseases such as cancer, but it is increasingly being sold illegally and mixed with other drugs.

Supply of poison

“It’s this increasingly poisoned drug supply that really drives the surge in overdose,” said Shannon, an associate professor of sociology at Syracuse University, who studies geographical patterns of overdose.・ Monato said. “Almost all of this increase is somehow contaminated with fentanyl. Heroin is contaminated. Cocaine is contaminated. Methamphetamine is contaminated.”

According to CDC data, fentanyl was involved in more than 60% of deaths from overdose last year.

According to Monato, there is no current evidence that more Americans started using drugs last year. Rather, the increase in deaths is most likely to be those who are already suffering from addiction. Some people told her research team that the suspension of peasant evictions and the extension of unemployment allowance left more money than usual. And they said, “When I have money, I stock up on my (medicine) supply.”

Death from overdose is only one aspect of what has been the most deadly year in US history overall. With about 378,000 deaths from COVID-19, the country has seen more than 3.3 million deaths.

11 people die per hour

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reviewed death certificates and produced estimates of deaths from drug overdose in 2020. An estimate of more than 93,000 people equates to an average of more than 250 deaths per day, or about 11 deaths per hour.

Since the count increased by 11,000 in 2016, the increase of 21,000 is the largest year-on-year increase.

More Historical Background: According to the CDC, the total number of deaths from overdose in the United States reported in 1970, when the heroin epidemic was rampant in US cities, was less than 7,200. In 1988, in the midst of a crack epidemic, there were about 9,000 people.

The CDC reported an increase in drug overdose in all but two states, New Hampshire and South Dakota, in 2020.

Overdose in Kentucky increased 54% last year to over 2,100, up from less than 1,400 last year. Significant increases were also seen in South Carolina, West Virginia, and California. Vermont showed the largest jumps of about 58%, from 118 to 186.

No significant decrease is expected

Fentanyl proliferation is one of the reasons some experts do not expect a significant reduction in deaths from drug overdose this year. Country figures are not yet available, but some states have data that appear to support pessimism. For example, in Rhode Island, overdose deaths were reported in 34 in January and 37 in February. This is the most frequent month in at least five years.

For Collin McGlashen, last year was an “incredibly dark time” that began in January with the death of his family’s beloved patriarch from cancer.

According to McGraschen, the death of his father hunted down the musician’s brother Jordan.

“Someone has been doing really well for a very long time and then it can get worse in no time,” he said.

Then a pandemic occurred. Jordan lost his job. “It was a kind of last descent.”