How can the U.S. reduce drug overdose deaths? A wide range of ideas awaits Biden Lenny Bernstein and Dan Diamond A stunning report this week that an estimated 93,000 people died of drug overdose deaths in 2020 has renewed attention on the nation’s other epidemic: the drug crisis that the government, health-care workers and street-level activists have been battling unsuccessfully for more than two decades. The Biden administration made the drug problem a top priority even before it came into office. But the worsening crisis is President Biden’s responsibility now, and it may demand more innovative approaches that advocates have been proposing for years and other countries have adopted.