Overdose Deaths Hit a New Record High

More than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year, a roughly 15% increase from the previous record set in 2020, per new CDC data published yesterday. This translates to one death from an overdose every ~5 minutes.

💊 By the numbers...

• Fentanyl – a drug ~50 times stronger than heroin – and other synthetic opioids were responsible for 71,000+ deaths, up 23% from the year before.
• There was also a 23% increase in deaths involving cocaine, and a 34% increase in deaths involving meth and other stimulants.
• Geographically, overdose trends were experienced unevenly. Alaska saw a 75% year-over-year increase in deaths, the largest of any state; on the flip side, overdose deaths in Hawaii fell by 2% last year. But only three states – New Hampshire, Maryland and of course Hawaii – saw a year-over-year decrease.

📸 Big picture: The US has recorded more than one million overdose deaths since 2000, with more than half of those coming over the past seven years.

• A peer-reviewed study published in January found US adolescents and young adults lost an estimated 1.2 million years of life from unintentional drug overdoses between 2015 and 2019.

+IMPORTANT: If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.