An estimated 100,000 Americans have died of drug overdoses in a one-year period, a never-before-seen milestone. The Center for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics indicated in a statement released November 17, that, during the 12- month period ending April 2021, an estimated 100,306 died of drug-overdose death in the United States, a sharp, 28.5% increase from the 78,056 overdose deaths that occurred during the same period the year before.
The increase of consumption of fentanyl, which is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine, spearheaded the increased overdose death level.
The CDC found that for the period studied, the estimated death toll rose in all but four states — Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and South Dakota — compared with the same period a year earlier. The states with largest increases were Vermont (70%), West Virginia (62%), and Kentucky (55%), all states experiencing economic contraction, the latter two coal-producing states targeted by the Green New Deal.
