Kentucky Releases 2020 Overdose Fatality Report sam1039.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sam1039.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
11 hrs ago
FILE - In this March 18, 2019 file photo, James Carroll, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, speaks at Volunteers of America as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell looks on in Louisville, Ky. Drug overdose deaths surged by nearly 50% last year in Kentucky, where opioid addiction mixed with pandemic-related stress to set a new record for tragedy and grief from a crisis that continues to ravage the region, a new report said, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021.(Michael Clevenger/Courier Journal via AP, File) Michael Clevenger
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) â Fatal drug overdoses in Kentucky â an ongoing scourge that has ravaged communities in the state â surged nearly 50% last year and isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was a âmajor contributing factor,â a state report concludes.
Close
In this March 18, 2019, file photo, James Carroll, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, speaks at Volunteers of America as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell looks on in Louisville, Ky. Drug overdose deaths surged by nearly 50% last year in Kentucky, where opioid addiction mixed with pandemic-related stress to set a new record for tragedy and grief from a crisis that continues to ravage the region, a new report said Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021.
Michael Clevenger | Courier Journal via AP
By BRUCE SCHREINER
The Associated Press Aug 4, 2021
Hatch chile crisis, cream puff sweetener: News from around our 50 states usatoday.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from usatoday.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The state, with 1,964 overdose deaths, follows a national trend.
The U.S. saw more than 93,000 overdose deaths in 2020, the highest number ever recorded in a 12-month period.
According to resident cases autopsied by the Kentucky Office of the Medical Examiner and toxicology reports submitted by Kentucky coroners, the increase in the death toll was driven mostly by a rise in opioid abuse, fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, which were found in 1,393 cases, accounting for approximately 71% of all overdose deaths for the year.
“In addition to the stress caused by the pandemic, we believe the increase in overdose deaths for 2020 is due to a rise in illicit fentanyl and its analogues within the drug supply. The problem is also exacerbated by the widespread availability of potent, inexpensive methamphetamine,” said Van Ingram, executive director of ODCP. “ODCP is committed to changing the way substance abuse is handled in Kentucky, reducing the problem and making the commonwealth a m