Drug overdose deaths hit all-time record number in 2020
Experts see the global pandemic as another catalyst for the already surging public health crisis.
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More people died from a drug overdose in the year 2020 than ever recorded, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.
About 93,000 people died from a drug overdose in 2020, which is about 21,000 more people and a 30% increase from the year before, according to the data. (Provisional data is subject to change as new information is collected -- in this case, deaths reported.)
Opioids continue to be the leading cause of overdose deaths in the US. That includes fentanyl, a powerful (and cheaper) lab-made opioid that many unknowingly consume while using heroin and other drugs, not realizing that what they purchased contains it.
In a health alert issued in December 2020, the CDC sounded the alarm after drug overdose deaths worsened during a 12-month period ending May 2020, in what was "the largest number of drug overdoses for a 12-month period ever recorded." The largest increase in overdose deaths, medical journal JAMA reported, was from March 2020 through May 2020 -- the beginning of coronavirus lockdown in the US.
The coronavirus pandemic has had profound effects on emotional and physical health, including addiction.
"The disruption to daily life due to the COVID-19 pandemic has hit those with substance use disorder hard," said CDC Director Robert Redfield, per JAMA. "As we continue the fight to end this pandemic, it's important to not lose sight of different groups being affected in other ways."
"We need to take care of people suffering from unintended consequences," Redfield said.