More than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses over 12 months
WASHINGTON : More Americans than ever before died from drug overdoses over a 12-month period, according to federal data released on Wednesday, as the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted medical care and increased mental health woes.
More lethal drugs have also flooded US streets.
The record of more than 100,000 drug overdose deaths between April 2020 and April 2021, which US President Joe Biden called "a tragic milestone", represents a 28.5 per cent jump from the previous 12 months, according to data from the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Biden administration said it would push states to enact laws making it easier for people to get access to naloxone, a drug that can reverse opioid overdoses.
"No one should die from an overdose, and naloxone is one of the most effective tools we have to save lives," said Dr Rahul Gupta, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Dr Joshua Sharfstein, director of the American Health Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which focuses on addiction and overdosing, said the peak of drug deaths hit in the spring of last year, early in the pandemic.
"This is a momentous tragedy hidden by the pandemic," Dr Sharfstein said. "It's heartbreaking how many families have been affected by an overdose this year."
He said the surge in overdose deaths reflects two factors, the first directly connected to pandemic disruptions that caused intense stress for many people.
The second is that the illegal drug supply out on the streets has become deadlier. That is mostly due to widespread availability of fentanyl, which can be 100 times more potent than morphine and is increasingly being mixed with other drugs, such as cocaine, without users knowing, as drug suppliers seek to boost their effects.
Even minuscule amounts of fentanyl make the drugs far more dangerous.
The American states with the biggest percentage spike in overdose deaths were Vermont at 70 per cent, followed by West Virginia (62.2 per cent) and Kentucky (54.5 per cent). California, the most populous state, saw its overdoses climb nearly 47.8 per cent. - REUTERS
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