Drug Overdose Deaths Have Increase Nearly 30% Over 2019

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, According to provisional data released by the US CDC this week, more than 93,000 people died of a drug overdose in 2020, a nearly 30% increase over the number of overdose deaths in 2019. This estimate is the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded and the largest percent increase since 1999. Public health agencies continue to fight the opioid epidemic, declared a public health emergency by the US government in 2017, but health departments were overwhelmed by the demands put on them during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, non-COVID-19 programs suffered.

In addition, pandemic control measures such as lockdowns and stoppages of in-person treatment groups facilitated an environment that exacerbated conditions for those with substance use disorders. The combination of isolation and increasing barriers to treatment appear to have resulted in the staggering increase in overdose numbers for 2020. Preliminary estimates for 2021 do not show much improvement, although Congress did allocate an additional $1.5 billion this year to address the opioid epidemic in the context of COVID-19. Other useful federal measures include allowing patients enrolled in methadone clinics to take doses home with them and the use of federal funds to buy supplies for needle exchange programs, including rapid test strips that can detect fentanyl in drugs. The federal government also eased regulations to facilitate access to care through telemedicine services for people in treatment.