US Drug Overdose Deaths Hit Record High in 2020

US Drug Overdose Deaths , Hit Record High in 2020.

Last year, overdose deaths during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in America rose by 30 percent.

According to data released on July 15 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that percentage equates to at least 93,000 people.

It’s huge, it’s historic, it’s unheard-of, unprecedented, and a real shame.

It’s a complete shame, Dr. Daniel Ciccarone, UC San Francisco, via 'The New York Times'.

The year also marked a record number of deaths caused by specific drugs, including opioids.

Certainly, Covid didn’t help and likely exacerbated things, but we were seeing an increase before, Regina LaBelle, Acting Director Office of National Drug Control Policy, via 'The New York Times'.

Because most of the overdose deaths were among young people in the prime of their lives.

Analysis by 'The New York Times' estimates that 93,000 deaths equates to 3.5 million years of lost life.

The U.S. South and West saw the most significant increases in overdose deaths.

Across all regions, populations of color, including Black and Hispanic communities, experienced the greatest increase of drug overdoses.

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So many consequences of the pandemic have hit communities of color harder.

So it’s not out of line for overdoses to do the same, Joshua Sharfstein, Vice Dean Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, via 'The New York Times'.

President Joe Biden nominated Dr. Rahul Gupta to be drug czar on July 13