Fatal Drug Overdoses Rise in 2020 for Recreational Drug Users

Phoenix, AZ

Long before the coronavirus ever reached the shores of the U.S, drug overdose deaths were actually reaching near-record highs by the end of 2019. However, the opioid epidemic was still a national health crisis that was alive in the public’s consciousness, federal resources were still being readily made available, and the long-term prognosis looked better than it had for years.

Subsequent data-driven research demonstrated that the majority of these overdose deaths were opioid-related, and had been triggered by the sudden rise of synthetic opioids, eg. fentanyl, which were now being found in a range of illicit drugs, such as other opioids (like heroin), cocaine, ecstasy, methamphetamine, and blackmarket prescription drugs, like fake OxyContin and Xanax.

And then the coronavirus pandemic arrived.

Everything changed – especially for recovering drug addicts, as well as active addicts, recreational drug users, those with mental health disorders, and those with co-occurring disorder (also known as dual diagnosis, where a substance addiction is simultaneously presenting with a mental health disorder.

The opioid epidemic quickly lost its place in the public consciousness, and its regular frontpage updates simply disappeared, pushed out by the new pandemic. Its funding, at both federal and state level, took a direct hit as resources had to be diverted to fight the new health crisis.

Experts had warned that the pandemic was likely to temporarily worsen the opioid epidemic and its associated overdose deaths, with their concerns centered on economic disruption, increased social isolation, and reduced access to substance addiction treatment.

Reposted from Phoenix New Times https://bit.ly/3sbNsqT