Drug deaths in America, which fell for the first in 25 years in 2018, surged again in 2019 and are expected to be even higher this year in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. Preliminary data from the Centers of Disease Control indicate that nearly 72,000 Americans died from drug overdose last year, a 5 percent increase from 2018.
And this year, drug deaths are already up an average of 13 percent across 35 states due in part to the social isolation and economic despair caused by the corona virus—although overdoses were already rising before the virus arrived. Equally troubling, the data shows that the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl—once confined mostly to the East—is showing up in Western states. And that methamphetamines and cocaine are being mixed with the deadly drug. Yet, even as overdose deaths soar, cash-strapped states are cutting funding for addiction programs.
States facing budget shortfalls due to corona virus-related economic losses are paring back aid to critical addiction treatment services as well as to Medicaid, which supports 21 percent of the country’s spending on substance use disorder programs.
New York’s Governor Cuomo has said he is withholding one-third of funding for addiction treatment—a devastating blow to those struggling with substance abuse. Instead of slashing funding, now is the time to significantly ramp up resources to confront the surge in overdose deaths and implement long-term plans to fight an epidemic that has killed more than 400,000 Americans over the past decade.