With National Prevention Week in full swing and drug overdose deaths in 2020 up 24% from the previous year, the personal-finance website WalletHub released its report on the States with the Biggest Drug Problems, as well as accompanying videos, to highlight the areas that stand to be most affected.
This study compares the 50 states and the District in terms of 21 key metrics, ranging from arrest and overdose rates to opioid prescriptions and employee drug testing laws. You can find some highlights below.
Drug Abuse & Prevention in California (1=Biggest Problem; 25=Avg.):
11th – Share of Teenagers Who Used Illicit Drugs in the Past Month
EDITORIAL: Overdoses rise in pandemic year yahoo.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from yahoo.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
23ABC In-Depth: Kern County sees an increase in the number of overdose deaths
31% increase over the year prior
Posted: 3:25 PM, May 05, 2021
Updated: 2021-05-05 20:24:55-04
Since last spring the Kern County Coronerâs Office says thereâs been an increase in the number of overdose deaths county-wide. The data suggests more people have struggled with substance abuse during the pandemic.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) â 2020 was a difficult year for many people but it proved especially hard for recovering addicts. In Kern County, drug overdoses took a massive jump.
Overall
the United States saw a 28 percent increase in drug overdoses during the pandemic. Data collected shows an increase from mid-2019 to mid-2020 and accounts for parts of that year where people were most isolated due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Credit Suhail Bhat / Ohio Valley Resource
The Biden administration released its first set of drug policy priorities Thursday after overdose deaths hit record numbers during the pandemic. Office of National Drug Control Policy Acting Director Regina LaBelle discussed the office’s seven priorities, beginning with expanding access to drug treatment services.
“We’ll do this by expanding access to quality treatment and medications for opioid use disorder,” LaBelle said. “This includes removing unnecessary barriers to buprenorphine prescribing and contingency management interventions, modernizing our methadone treatment, expanding access to evidence based treatment options for people who are incarcerated.”
The American Rescue Plan Act set aside $4 billion to broaden access to behavioral services under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Health Resources and Services Administration.
States and cities are facing a rising number of drug overdoses that health officials say have increased during the coronavirus pandemic. Why it matters: Roughly 81,000 people died from a drug overdose between June 2019 and May 2020, the highest number ever recorded in a 12-month period, according to provisional data in the CDC's December report. Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.Where it stands: Fatal drug overdoses in Maine "climbed nearly one-third in 2020 to set a record," according to public health officials, the Boston Globe reports.Overdoses in Staten Island have sharply increased this year compared to the same period in 2020 and 2019, per the Staten Island Advance. West Virginia officials have held virtual town halls to fight rising overdoses in the state during the pandemic. In Washington state, principal research scientist Caleb Banta-Green at the University of Washington told a local NPR station in February: "We