2021 OD catastrophe

Record 107K drug deaths

One person died of a drug overdose every five minutes last year in the US — amounting to a record-breaking 107,000 estimated deaths, according to federal data released Wednesday.

The stunning estimate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention comes after three decades of increasing overdose deaths that began with an uptick in abuse of opioid painkillers in the 1990s, followed by similar trends involving heroin and illicit fentanyl.

There were over 71,000 fatal overdoses involving fentanyl and synthetic opioids in 2021, up 23% from the previous year. There was also a 23% increase in cocaine-related deaths and a 34% rise in deaths involving meth and other stimulants.

The preliminary 2021 estimate marks a 15% increase from the previous record set in 2020, as the epidemic takes more and more American lives with seemingly no end in sight.

More than 1 million Americans have now died from drug overdoses since 2000, the data revealed.

Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, called the latest statistics “truly staggering.”

“The net effect is that we have many more people, including those who use drugs occasionally and even adolescents, exposed to these potent substances that can cause someone to overdose even with a relatively small exposure,” Volkow said.

Experts attributed new figures to problems stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, as lockdowns further isolated those struggling with addiction and made treatment options more difficult.

The rise in overdoses also comes at a time when fentanyl — a powerful pain medicine prescribed in medical settings — is cut into other drugs and sold to unsuspected buyers.

Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, chair of the American Medical Association’s Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force, told The Post in a statement that “we need to help patients and their families with medically proven approaches to addiction.”

The AMA wants the government to “hold insurers accountable for repeated, willful violations of state and federal mental health and substance use disorder parity laws,” he said.

New York City had a 17% increase in overdose deaths, breaching 2,500 in 2021, the CDC reported. Statewide, deaths increased by 7%.