last year, we hit a record in record deaths. 100,306 people died from deadly overdose year-over-year. here s the story of one. i just knew in my mother s heart, my son was dead. reporter: matthew davidson, 31 years old, died from an overdose on memorial day 2020. i just remember crying out, i wasn t ready to let you go. and spent some time alone with him, patting his hair, touching his hands. he looked like he was just asleep. reporter: davidson first addicted to prescription painkillers, then heroin, struggled with addiction for ten years. this isn t my first time i ve been in a program. reporter: in and out of recovery, overdosing more than once. his death ultimately caused by the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. at one point when his girlfriend was asleep, i think that s when he decided he was going to take this dose of what
reporter: matthew davidson, 31 years old, died from an overdose on memorial day 2020. i just remember crying out. i wasn t ready to let you go, and i spent some time alone with him patting his hair and touching his his hands. he looked like he was just asleep. reporter: davidson first addicted to prescription painkillers and then heroin, struggled with addiction for ten years. this isn t my first time that i ve been in a program. reporter: in and out of recovery and overdosing more than once. his death ultimately caused by the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. at one point when his girlfriend was asleep, i think that s when he decided he was going to take a dose of what he thought was hearin, but it was a very high level of fentanyl as well. was in the heroin, and it doesn t take any of it to hardly kill you. reporter: fentanyl and synthetic opioids like it accounting for 64% of the record
installment of our new series news of addiction. today a look at fentanyl. it s driving rising overdose deaths. more than 150 a day according to the u.s. centers for disease control. fentanyl is up to 100 times stronger than morphine. often mixed with other drugs to make them cheaper and more powerful and more addictive. and as miguel marquez reports for us, the pandemic has made it even harder for those struggling with addiction. i just knew in my mother s heart, my son was dead. reporter: matthew davidson, 31 years old. died from an overdose on memorial day 2020. i just remember crying out, i wasn t ready to let you go. and spent some time alone with him patting his hair, touching his hands. he looked like he was just asleep. reporter: davidson first addicted to prescription painkillers, then heroin,
struggled with addiction for ten years. this isn t my first time i ve been in the program. reporter: in and out of a program, overdosing more than once. his death ultimately caused by fentanyl. at one point when his girlfriend was asleep, i think that s when he decided he was going to take this dose of what he thought was heroin, but it was a very high level of fentanyl as well. and it doesn t take any of it to hardly kill you. reporter: fentanyl and synthetic opioids like it accounting for 64% of the record 100,000-plus deadly drug overdoses from april 2020 to april 2021. did the pandemic kill matthew? no. it just intensified. i think he was more emotionally fragile during that time. what did the pandemic do for addiction in places like kentucky? yeah, there was a clear and obvious increase in use,
it was fentanyl. reporter: how much did you use? very little. less than 0.1 gram. and i found out it was straight fentanyl. reporter: that is a tiny that is tinier than tiny. it is like barely a sprinkle of salt i want to welcome everybody tonight. reporter: social interaction important for the addicted, their families, too. jean butcher founded the kentucky chapter of parent of addicted loved ones and over the years they ve had it all as they struggled to free their son matthew from opioids. well, send him somewhere and fix him. or fix her. it doesn t work like that. why don t they just stop? don t they know they can stop? you would think they d know what they re doing to their children. but you see, drugs take over the brain. reporter: matthew s brother glen says there is no easy way to recover and money alone won t solve the problem of addiction. addiction isn t something you