Drug overdose deaths topped 100,000 in a single year for the first time, with opioids responsible for the majority.
Just how much of a role the stress and isolation of the pandemic played in the rising overdose deaths remains to be seen.
“Opioid addiction is a chronic, relapsing condition such that the stress or the social isolation and the inability to access support groups could have resulted in relapses in people with opioid addiction, and Covid could have made it harder for people with opioid addiction to access treatment, as well,” Kolodny said.
“For about 26 years, every year in the United States we would set a record for deaths from drug overdose and then the next year we would break that record. There has been this trend, which is in line with an epidemic of opioid addiction,” Kolodny said, noting that deaths began to increase exponentially around 2014.
“Obviously, if we don’t get a handle on it, we’re going to continue to have increasing deaths, and we’ve now already reached this grim milestone of 100,000. There’s nothing special about it other than we’re moving into six digits instead of five, and that’s a lot of people dying,” he said. “Hopefully these statistics can galvanize action from public health programs and prevention.”
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