Opioid overdoses have spiked in Minnesota during pandemic
WCCO
By Erin Hassanzadeh
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The opioid epidemic led to a record number of drug overdoses in the United States last year. The spike is happening in Minnesota, too.
Just under 800 Minnesotans died from drug overdoses in 2019. More than 1,000 died last year — a 35% jump.
When a lot of the world was shutting down due to the pandemic, the counselors at the Alliance Wellness Clinic in Bloomington stayed open to help people struggling with opioid addiction. Yussuf Shafie owns the clinic.
“People lost jobs people, lost family members,” Shafie said. “We’ve lost some folks, unfortunately. It is very tough. You think, ‘What happened?’ Is there any way you could have saved this person?”