Over the past year, more than 100,000 U.S. citizens have died from drug overdoses during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is called the fentanyl horror epidemic because many US citizens have been found lifeless after consuming this synthetic opioid.
The United States is the first to record the highest annual drug-related death toll. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), drug overdose deaths have increased 28.5 percent in the past 12 months since last April.
Experts estimate that the possibility of a drug overdose spike is due to the psychological burden of the pandemic and the increasingly widespread circulation of the synthetic opioid, aka fentanyl.
This is a drug abuse expert and professor of epidemiology at Columbia University. According to him, the trend of overdose deaths has in fact increased exponentially in recent years.
However, what made matters worse was the pandemic.
“Available data shows that more people are taking the drug, which we know is a risk factor for overdose,” he explained.
“There is also reduced access to health services that can support overdose prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery.”
Sadly, the number of drug-related deaths surpasses records for deaths from firearms, traffic accidents and flu.
The largest increase in overdose deaths was recorded in Vermont, where the number of deaths jumped 70% to 209. Vermont was followed by West Virginia (62%) and Kentucky (55%).
Why Fentanyl?
According to Kayes, synthetic opioids, especially fentanyl, are the biggest contributors to the spiraling death from drug overdose. Users of drugs such as cocaine or methamphetamine have recently tested positive for fentanyl.
“It’s kind of a moving epidemic that was initially concentrated in people who used a lot of opioids like heroin, but now it’s starting to spread to people who use other drugs as well,” he said.
“This is rapidly increasing overdose mortality among a wider range of drug users.”
Shannon Monnat, director of the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion at Syracuse University, said the outbreak was a tragedy for the United States.
“Even after Covid is over, overdoses will likely continue to rise,” he said. “We have to tackle this crisis from all sides.”
Watch a video “Registering more than 92 million cases, US citizens are pessimistic about the Covid-19 pandemic“
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