Fatal drug overdoses spiked to record highs last year in states across the United States, with pandemic-driven isolation and loss of routine the likely factor behind the surge in deaths.
State-level fatal drug overdose data covering the 12-month period ending in September 2020, the closest proxy available for last year as a whole, show drug deaths surged at least 26.8 percent in the United States, with the District of Columbia up 56.8 percent, Louisiana 53.2 percent, Kentucky 49.2 percent, and West Virginia 49.0 percent, according to incomplete data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
