Overdose Deaths Substantially Increased During The Pandemic.
The opioid epidemic took a back seat in the news cycle during the pandemic but the deaths did not and surged to new highs. (NY Times)
“More than 87,000 Americans died of drug overdoses over the 12-month period that ended in September, according to preliminary federal data, eclipsing the toll from any year since the opioid epidemic began in the 1990s.
The surge represents an increasingly urgent public health crisis, one that has drawn less attention and fewer resources while the nation has battled the coronavirus pandemic.”
Opioids deaths and addiction are claiming a whole generation of Americans. Attention needs to be paid to this other public health crisis that is destroying countless communities from coast to coast. Society has to find the reasons that people are turning to opioids and heavily invest in combating the epidemic before more people succumb and another community is brought to the brink. It won’t be cheap or easy but it must be done.
