top of page
OVERDOSE RELATED DEATHS RISE AND SPIKE IN RECENT YEARS
By Madison Bellah, Lindsey Shepard, Olivia Hebert and Torstein Rehn
Drug overdose deaths reached an all time high in 2020, aligning with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
DRUG DEATH OVERDOSES RAPIDLY INCREASING IN RECENT YEARS
Between 2019 and 2020, the rise in drug overdoses reached an all-time high. Drugs like heroin, opioids, antidepressants, and psychostimulants saw a dramatic increase in overdoses.
FEMALE V. MALE DRUG DEATH OVERDOSES IN RECENT YEARS
Within the population of overdose deaths, men are overdosing at a higher rate than women. Historically, this has always been the case, however in the pie chart the amount of male drug overdoses increases from 2015 to 2020, while the amount of female overdoses shrinks. Why are men more likely to die from an overdose than women? According to Psychology Today, studies have found that men are more likely to partake in risky behaviors, so that could be one potential factor. Another thing to consider is male drug abuse, and whether that coincides with a rise in depression and/or anxiety in men whilst there being a decline in women.
DRUG DEATH OVERDOSES IN RECENT YEARS BASED ON DRUG TYPE
Over the course of the past ten years, death by drug overdose has risen dramatically, with opioid overdoses being the leading cause of a drug overdose, far outpacing the likes of heroin. Nearly 92,000 people have died from drug overdoses, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse(NIDA). Deaths involving fentanyl and other synthetic opioids contributed to these numbers, accounting for 56,516 of opioid-related overdoses in 2020. Fentanyl has reportedly been laced in numerous recreational and psychoactive drugs like marijuana, MDMA, and more. It is nearly impossible to detect, it doesn’t have a notable taste nor smell that could give it away. The only way you could find out if the drugs have been laced is with fentanyl test strips (of which most don’t have access to). Fentanyl was made more accessible during the pandemic, primarily due to the illegal drug market tactics of sneaking fentanyl into less harmful drugs like marijuana.
DRUG DEATH OVERDOSES IN RECENT YEARS SPECIFICALLY LOOKING AT OPIOID RELATED OVERDOSES
According to Dr. Rahul Gupta, the Director of the Office of the National Drug Control Policy, 100,000 people have died in a 12 month period lasting from May 2020 to April 2021, and to him this means that an American is likely to die from a drug overdose every five minutes.
The popularity of fentanyl and synthetic opioids in the past two years can partially be attributed to the pandemic, and the way it affected all of us. During the pandemic there was a rise in anxiety and depression due to the mental toll isolation took. The CDC reported that the national rise in anxiety and depression was severe in adults, numbers tripled the amount reported pre-pandemic. Whether the poor mental health of Americans and the rise in drug overdoses is directly correlated is to be determined, but it must be a factor taken into consideration.
Data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse
bottom of page