Over 104,000 Americans are dying a year from overdoses. The spread of fentanyl is the major cause of recent overdose deaths, but overdose deaths were trending upward before the pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic has made the crisis worse.
The most recent CDC data estimates that 104,288 Americans died of overdoses during the 12-month period ending in September 2021. Overdose deaths in the U.S. increased by 15.9% in one year. The early months of the pandemic saw even steeper gains. As recently as mid-2019, the annual number of overdose deaths in the U.S. was less than 69,000. Overdose deaths in the United States have doubled in a six-year span.
How is Georgia faring relative to the nation as a whole? Georgia saw a 26.2% annual increase in overdose deaths in the 12-month period ending in September 2021, according to CDC estimates.
Addiction is a treatable disease. These are preventable deaths.
Synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, are driving the surge in overdose deaths. Nearly two-thirds of overdose deaths are from synthetic opioids, but there are also increases in deaths from cocaine and psychostimulants, such as methamphetamine.
Much illicit fentanyl is manufactured in foreign clandestine labs and smuggled into the U.S. through Mexico, according to the DEA. It is then distributed across the country and sold on the illegal drug market.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, a large portion of fentanyl-related overdose deaths were occurring in the eastern half of the country. One reason for the geographic concentration is that heroin has mainly been available in powder form rather than the black tar heroin, which is more common in the West. It is easier to mix fentanyl with powdered heroin. Increasingly, the heroin that is available in our nation is mixed with fentanyl or what is purchased is just fentanyl without any heroin in the mix. The results are often deadly.
The pandemic made it harder to smuggle drugs into the U.S. due to border restrictions and a significant reduction in cross-national traffic. Fentanyl is more potent and easier to transport in small quantities or as pills, making it easier to traffic by mail. Counterfeit prescription pills made with fentanyl are becoming more common in the U.S. These changes have contributed to the surge in deaths among heroin users and individuals seeking prescription opioids.
Another factor that contributes to the soaring death toll is that the pandemic has made it harder for those addicted to opioids to get in-person treatment. Social isolation and stress increased during the pandemic, which exacerbates the chances of relapse for many individuals in recovery.
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic has consumed the resources of public health departments. Other public health issues, including the opioid epidemic, have been neglected.
Effective drug education and a supportive social network can prevent the onset of drug use. Drug education is likely to be more effective if paired with consistent messaging from family, community organizations, and religious institutions. One’s social network can support a drug-free lifestyle, recovery, or addiction.
Drug interdiction efforts must be improved. It is essential to slow the illegal smuggling of fentanyl into our nation. Efforts must also be made to prevent the distribution and sale of illicit drugs, especially those containing deadly dosages of fentanyl.
Distributing naloxone to opioid users, those who live with a user, and to all first responders can save lives. Naloxone can reverse opioid overdose, but this is a temporary treatment that should be paired with medical intervention.
It is essential to expand access to a range of addiction treatment programs, including inpatient rehab, outpatient rehab, and medication-assisted treatment. Due to cost or a lack of insurance coverage, these programs are out of reach for many folks living with addiction. It is necessary to engineer a reality where treatment for opioid addiction is easier to access than illicit drugs. Expanding Medicaid coverage provides one avenue for ensuring that more Americans have access to addiction treatment programs.
Roscoe Scarborough, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of sociology at College of Coastal Georgia and an associate scholar at the Reg Murphy Center. He can be reached by email at rscarborough@ccga.edu.
Reg Murphy Center