AP
A Narcan nasal device, which delivers overdose-reversing naloxone to an individual who has overdosed on opioids. Pennsylvania saw an increase in overdose deaths in 2020 up from 4,458 in 2019 to 4,880, and officials expect that number to go up as more death records are finalized.
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Overdose deaths in Pennsylvania ticked upward in 2020 after two years of relatively stable numbers, something officials say is likely the ripple effect of a pandemic that caused an influx of stress and isolated people from their support systems.
Tribune-Review
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As President Joe Biden settles into office amid the coronavirus pandemic, nonprofits and organizations battling drug addiction are urging the new administration not to lose sight of the national opioid crisis that predates covid-19 and has not slowed.
“At the same time the coronavirus death toll grows, there is another killer in our midst taking the lives of far too many Americans: fentanyl,” said Jim Rauh, founder of Families Against Fentanyl, based in Akron, Ohio. “Already fentanyl and its analogues are considered chemical weapons banned from warfare by an international treaty. Yet a growing supply continues to infiltrate our borders.”