Overdose deaths soared to a record 93,000 last year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the US government reported Wednesday, eclipsing the high of about 72,000 drug overdose deaths reached the previous year.
According to provisional data released by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, the number of deaths from overdose amounted to a 29.4 percent increase, the highest number ever recorded.
“Overdose deaths from synthetic opioids (primarily fentanyl) and psychostimulants such as methamphetamine also increased in 2020 compared to 2019. Cocaine deaths also increased in 2020, as did deaths from natural and semi-synthetic opioids (such as prescription pain medication),” the NCHS said in a statement.
Opioids, mainly illicitly manufactured fentanyl, accounted for 69,710 of the deaths, while deaths from psychostimulants, such as methamphetamine, were also up, per France 24.
“This is a staggering loss of human life,” said Brandon Marshall, a Brown University public health researcher who tracks overdose trends, reports the Associated Press. “COVID has greatly exacerbated the crisis,” he added.
Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean for public health practice at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a former deputy commission at the US Food and Drug Administration, agrees the pandemic made an already serious crisis even worse, reports CNN News.
“But as the pandemic recedes, we are still dealing with this overdose crisis,” he added.
According to Shannon Monnat, a sociology instructor at Syracuse University, there is actually no current evidence that more people started using illicit drugs during the pandemic.
Monnat claims that instead, the increased deaths most likely were people who had already been struggling with addiction.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden said he will nominate former West Virginia health commissioner Dr. Rahul Gupta to head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
If confirmed, Gupta would be the first physician to lead the office. This move by the president goes along with the national strategy used to combat COVID-19, one that included goals and the use of good data.
Dr. Sharfstein said, “Dr, Gupta is experienced at viewing the drug crisis as a health problem. He’ll follow the evidence where it takes him.”
