A record 108,000 Americans died of drug overdose in 2021, the CDC reports –

Drug overdose deaths in the US have reached an all-time high since records began last year, with preliminary data showing Wednesday – opioids, including fentanyl, behind nearly three out of five deaths.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates 107,622 overdose deaths in 2021, or one death every five minutes; this is a 15% increase from the previous year’s record of 93,655 drug-related deaths. is increased.

Opioids, including fentanyl, were associated with the highest death toll at 80,800, followed by psychostimulants such as methamphetamine at around 33,000. It was possible that more than one drug was linked to one death.

Only one state, Hawaii, saw overdose deaths drop last year, and Appalachian states like West Virginia, Tennessee and Pennsylvania remained the country’s hotspots for victims.

Experts warned that fentanyl and other drugs were “injected … nationwide” and victims had passed another “destructive stone”.

They added that the increase in deaths was due to the fact that fentanyl, which is up to 100 times more potent than morphine, is mixed with other drugs, and people who take them often don’t realize it’s happening.

The drugs come largely from Mexico via China, and experts point out that the southern border crisis is the main way they are smuggled into America. On Wednesday, law enforcement urged the Chinese to do more to prevent the drug from being transported to Mexico.

The map above shows the number of drug overdose deaths per 100,000 people in each state through December 2020 (left) and December 2021 (right). Every state except Hawaii has seen drug overdose deaths rise

The map above shows the percentage change in drug overdose deaths by state in the United States, which has each seen an increase except Hawaii. The number of deaths in Oklahoma neither increased nor decreased from previous years

According to data from the CDC, opioids, including fentanyl (black line), were responsible for about three-fifths of drug overdose deaths. The black opioid series includes deaths from synthetic opioids (browns), natural and semi-synthetic opioids (green), heroin (blue), and methadone (purple).

Each month, the CDC receives reports on the number of overdose deaths registered from each state and uses these reports to calculate a preliminary estimate of deaths over a one-year period.

Data were reported approximately six months after death due to the time it took to confirm that death was due to overdose rather than another illness.

Commenting on the figures, Dr Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said: “These data surpass another devastating milestone in the history of the American overdose epidemic.

“Behind each of these numbers, a person’s life, a devastated family, an affected community is lost.

“To make the tragedy worse, we haven’t been able to use enough of the treatments that can help many people.

“Where we need to meet people to connect people with proven treatments to prevent overdose, reduce harm, and reduce drug use.”

In the United States today, he said: ‘People overdosed because they weren’t exposed to such potent opioids.

“We like to classify our deaths under a drug or cause of death. [But] What’s happening on the street now is this incredible experiment with drugs.’

“It is unacceptable that we lose one life every five minutes 24/7 due to an overdose,” said Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Drug overdose deaths have increased over the past three years after a brief decline in 2018.

They were at their lowest in 2015, when current records began, with 53,000 deaths that year.

Last year, West Virginia recorded the highest number of overdose deaths at 83 per 100,000 people, followed by Tennessee (57) and Pennsylvania (54.8).

At the other end of the scale, Nebraska (11), South Dakota (11.2), and Iowa (14.8) had the fewest overdose deaths.

Breaking down the numbers by change from the previous year, Alaska recorded the biggest peaks, with an increase of 75%, with Kansas (43%) and South Dakota (35%).

The smallest increases were observed in Nebraska (one percent), Maryland (one percent), and New Hampshire (three percent).

Opioids like fentanyl are at the heart of the drug epidemic crisis in America and are the cause of the majority of overdose deaths in the country.

The super-strength drug became famous in 2016 after music superstar Prince died of a fentanyl overdose and has been passed down through families ever since.

The chart above shows the cumulative annual rate of overdose deaths reported each month in the United States. It also shows that they continue to follow the uptrend.

U.S. law enforcement warns that taking as little as two milligrams of the drug can lead to an overdose. The first symptoms are usually clammy skin and lethargy.

In some cases, this can even lead to respiratory failure resulting in death.

To combat the growing drug crisis, President Joe Biden’s administration last month unveiled a national drug control strategy aimed at solving the crisis by targeting untreated addiction and human trafficking.

Data from the 2020 survey showed that of the 41.1 million people who needed treatment for substance use disorders (SUD), only 2.7 million (6.5%) received treatment at a specialized facility in the last year.

The government wants to expand access to life-saving treatments such as naloxone, drug test strips, and syringe service programs.

It also called for an increase in the budget of border control and drug enforcement agencies to stop the flow of illegal drugs.

On Wednesday, the Drug Enforcement Administration urged the Chinese government to crack down on the illegal networks that supply fentanyl to the United States.

Director Anne Milgram said: CBS News: ‘We want China to do more.

For example, we need to be able to track every shipment of chemicals from Chinese chemical companies in Mexico. We can’t do that right now.’

Chinese factories are currently the largest producer of chemical precursors that can be used to make fentanyl, and it said it was “too late” when these drugs reached Mexico.

Between January 2021 and March 2022, more than 2,100 pounds of the drug — or enough to make a billion doses — of chemical precursors was seized at the border, Milgram said. But a lot is still lost online.