The United States is heading for another new record in overdose deaths, with an American dying every five minutes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published its latest provisional data Wednesday showing that more than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses during the 12-month period ending April 2021.
The translation: An American is dying from an overdose every five minutes, said Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of National Drug Control Policy.
More:Lives lost to overdose as opioid epidemic surges through Ohio, fueled by fentanyl
The overdose death toll is blamed in a big way on the accessibility of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl and triggered in part by people suffering from hardships prompted by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
"This is unacceptable," Gupta said during a Wednesday press conference with Biden administration officials. "These are sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, friends, grandparents and so many others."
Lives lost to overdose as opioid epidemic surges through Ohio, fueled by fentanyl
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced the new HHS Overdose Prevention Strategy, a multi-pronged plan that includes prevention, harm reduction (strategies to keep people who use drugs alive and healthy), evidence-based treatment and recovery support.
The provisional death count due to overdose is a 28.5% increase over the previous year, said Dr. Deb Houry, acting principal deputy director of the CDC.
"We all have a role to play to reduce overdoses and overdose deaths," Houry said.
She and other officials support an increase in access and distribution of naloxone, which can restore breathing in people overdosing from opioids, preventing death. They also stressed the need for early intervention for people with drug-use disorders.
The president’s fiscal year 2022 proposed budget for HHS on drug-related programs and initiatives totals $11.2 billion across HHS, $3.9 billion more than the previous year – a 54% increase – Becerra said.
“With this new strategy, we’re breaking new ground to address the full range of drug use and addiction that can result in overdose and death,” said Becerra. “We’re changing the way we address overdoses."
The overdose death count was preventable, said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health.
"That should not have happened," Volkow said. "We have the tools, we have the knowledge of how to address this."
Science shows medications work to prevent overdose and save lives, Volkow said. These medications, buprenorphine and methadone, often are inaccurately referred to as drugs that are used to trade one addiction for another, but people who take them are able to stay healthy, care for families and lead productive lives without having unrelenting drug-seeking behaviors.
The overdose death count is partially blamed on the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in September alerted people to the increasing supply of fentanyl pressed pills entering the United States. The pills are prescription painkiller lookalikes.
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said the DEA seized more fentanyl than ever this year, 12,000 pounds.
The fentanyl scourge is blamed for most of the overdose deaths in Ohio and Kentucky.
Ohio Health Department records show that 76% of the overdose deaths in the state in 2019 were caused by fentanyl. Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy records show that 71% of 2020 overdose deaths in the commonwealth were from fentanyl.
Among strategies to prevent more of these deaths, the federal government agreed in April to fund the harm-reduction tool fentanyl test strips. They are rapid tests that detect fentanyl's presence in drugs. They have been available at needle-exchange sites and through other harm reduction locations for a few years but were not previously funded with federal dollars.
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