Experts believe the top drivers are the growing prevalence of deadly fentanyl in the illicit drug supply and the COVID-19 pandemic, which left many drug users socially isolated and unable to get treatment or other support.
An estimated 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in one year, a never-before-seen milestone that health officials say is tied to the COVID-19 pandemic and a more dangerous drug supply.
Drawing from the latest available death certificate data, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 100,300 Americans died of drug overdoses from May 2020 to April 2021. It’s not an official count. It can take many months for death investigations involving drug fatalities to become final, so the agency made the estimate based on the 98,000 reports it has received so far.Some prosecutors are pursuing murder charges for dealers linked to fentanyl deaths.
The new data shows many of the deaths involve illicit fentanyl, a highly lethal opioid that five years ago surpassed heroin as the drug involved in the most overdose deaths. Dealers have mixed fentanyl with other drugs — one reason that deaths from methamphetamines and cocaine also are rising.It found the estimated death toll rose in all but four states — Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey and South Dakota — compared with the same period a year earlier.
Gustavson was close to his mother, two brothers and the rest of his family, said his grandmother, Nancy Sack. The morning of the day he died, Travis had a tooth pulled, but he wasn’t prescribed strong painkillers because of his drug history, Sack said. He told his mother he would just stay home and ride out the pain with ibuprofen. He was expecting a visit from his girlfriend that night to watch a movie, she said.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
More Than 100 Praying Mantises Crawled Out of a Woman's Christmas TreeI...really hate this.
Read more »
No. 2 UCLA withstands Long Beach State upset bid, pulls away to 100-79 winA ragged defensive effort by No. 2 UCLA allowed Long Beach State to lead by as much as five points in the first half before UCLA cruised to 100-79 win.
Read more »
Taylor Swift Has Seven Different Albums On Billboard Top 100It’s the first time that the “Red” artist has ever accomplished this.
Read more »
22 Things We Were All Taught In School That Are 100% FalseTurns out we have way more than five senses!
Read more »
Maryland mayor faces 100-year prison sentence on revenge porn chargesAndrew Bradshaw, the mayor of Cambridge, is charged with 50 counts of distributing revenge porn.
Read more »