The variety of drug overdose deaths within the U.S. hit a grim document, because the nation concurrently battled the Covid-19 pandemic. A complete
The variety of drug overdose deaths within the U.S. hit a grim document, because the nation concurrently battled the Covid-19 pandemic. A complete of 93,331 Individuals died of a drug overdose in 2020, and that represents almost a 30% enhance from the 12 months earlier than, based on preliminary knowledge from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the Nationwide Institute on Drug Abuse, advised CNBC’s “The Information with Shepard Smith” that she’s hopeful that the spike in drug overdoses won’t be lasting.
“One of many the reason why I am optimistic … is that one of many elements that contributed to that enhance in drug use was the isolation, social distancing, and that doesn’t permit you to present Narcan, which reverses overdoses,” stated Volkow. “That despair that individuals felt, hopefully, will begin to be mitigated.”
Volkow added that individuals will now be capable to rebuild social help methods that existed earlier than the Covid pandemic and that healthcare methods will be capable to refocus on offering therapy for opioid abuse dysfunction.
The U.S. additionally recorded probably the most deaths from opioid overdoses in 2020, and greater than 60% of these deaths concerned fentanyl. Host Shepard Smith requested Volkow why fentanyl performed such a large position within the drug overdoses. Volkow defined that it needed to do with efficiency and pricing.
“Fentanyl is a really potent drug, and it is truly 50 occasions stronger than heroin, and so that you want smaller volumes to supply the identical impact,” Volkow stated. “So it truly gives a giant revenue for the illicit drug market, and it has been used to really contaminate different medicine, and so once you combine fentanyl with medicine like methamphetamine or cocaine, you make them a lot extra deadly.”