America’s two-decade drug crisis hit another new low in 2020. New estimates from the CDC indicate that roughly 93,000 people died from drug overdoses last year, a 30 percent increase over 2019. As drug-policy expert Keith Humphreys noted, drugs are likely now killing more people per day than Covid-19 does.
Some commentators will be quick to blame the surge in deaths on the pandemic and ensuing lockdowns, the psychological effects of which may have driven more people to use drugs or the same people to use more heavily. CDC simulation data from earlier this year do show that drug deaths likely spiked above pre-2020 levels during lockdowns.
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