Record 100,000 died of drug overdoses in one year, CDC says

An estimated 100,000 people died of drug overdoses in a single year, a record that health officials attribute to the pandemic and growing drug strength.

Overdose deaths have been on the rise for two decades, and new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirm the increase. The CDC estimated that 100,306 people died of drug overdoses between May 2020 and April 2021, surpassing the number of deaths from car crashes, guns, and pneumonia.

All but four states saw death counts increase in comparison to a year earlier. The most significant increases to date were Vermont (70%), West Virginia (62%), and Kentucky (55%), the CDC found. The only states without increases were Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and South Dakota.

The CDC previously reported that the number of overdose deaths rose 30%, with a record 93,000 deaths in 2020. Opioids, usually fentanyl or other illegal synthetic drugs, accounted for most of the overdose deaths in 2019 and 2020, making up at least 72.9% of 2020 deaths, up from 70.6% in 2019.