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US overdose deaths hit record 93,000 in pandemic last year

FILE - In this Sunday, May 10, 2020 file photo, Sharon Rivera adjusts flowers and other items left at the grave of her daughter, Victoria, at Calvary Cemetery in New York, on Mother's Day. Victoria died of a drug overdose in Sept. 22, 2019, when she just 21 years old. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
FILE - In this Sunday, May 10, 2020 file photo, Sharon Rivera adjusts flowers and other items left at the grave of her daughter, Victoria, at Calvary Cemetery in New York, on Mother's Day. Victoria died of a drug overdose in Sept. 22, 2019, when she just 21 years old. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

By MIKE STOBBE / AP Medical Writer 4 min read

NEW YORK (AP) – Overdose deaths soared to a record 93,000 last year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government reported Wednesday.

That estimate far eclipses the high of about 72,000 drug overdose deaths reached the previous year and amounts to a 29% increase.

“This is a staggering loss of human life,” said Brandon Marshall, a Brown University public health researcher who tracks overdose trends.

The nation was already struggling with its worst overdose epidemic but clearly “COVID has greatly exacerbated the crisis,” he added.

Lockdowns and other pandemic restrictions isolated those with drug addictions and made treatment harder to get, experts said.