The United States hit a grim record of 106,699 drug overdose deaths in 2021, a 16% increase over 2020, the CDC said in its final report released this week.
Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid up to 50 times stronger than heroin, is driving the rise. Drug overdose deaths involving fentanyl increased 22% in 2021, the CDC said. Heroin overdoses, meanwhile, decreased by 32%.
A reporter displays an example of the amount of fentanyl that can be deadly at DEA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
The CDC previously reported that there were as many as 107,000 drug overdose deaths in 2021, but revised that number slightly downward in its final tally after examining death records.
FENTANYL AND A STRONGER FORM OF MET NOW DRIVE AMERICA’S HOMELESS CRISIS
The flow of fentanyl into the United States has not decreased in 2022.
The DEA announced this week that it seized 379 million life-threatening doses of fentanyl this year, including 50.6 million counterfeit fentanyl-laced pills and 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder.
Fentanyl seized by Customs and Border Protection agents in Nogales, Arizona.
(Customs and Border Protection)
Drug overdose deaths from cocaine and other stimulants also increased in 2021.
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Rising drug overdose deaths in 2021 helped push US life expectancy to a 25-year low of 76.4 years last year, the CDC said separately Thursday. The coronavirus pandemic was the other main factor in the decline in life expectancy.
