Opioid addiction made worse during pandemic; there is help
Marcia Lee Taylor and Will Castleberry
Cities and states across our country, including here in Fayetteville, are taking necessary precautions, locking down and ordering people to quarantine as COVID-19 numbers rise.
In North Carolina, we have already lost more than 5,600 people to COVID, but there is another crisis taking lives in our community made even worse by the COVID pandemic addiction.
In just the first half of 2020, there were more than 4,000 emergency room visits across North Carolina related to opioid overdoses. As of Oct. 31, in Cumberland County alone, there have been more than 200 emergency room visits this year resulting from opioid overdoses. These numbers are only expected to rise as people struggling with addiction face challenges of isolation, loss of connection to normalcy, friends and family, and even their livelihoods, leading into the holiday season.
MARCIA LEE TAYLOR & WILL CASTLEBERRY
Cities and counties across our country, including in the Lone Star State, are taking necessary precautions, locking down and ordering people to quarantine as COVID numbers rise. In Texas, we have already lost more than 23,000 people to COVID, but there is another crisis taking lives in our community made even worse by the COVID pandemic addiction.
Drug-related deaths have risen in 2020 in states across the country. Texas has fared better than some states, but opioid use is still the primary driver of overdose deaths in Texas. Over half of all drug overdose deaths are attributable to opioids according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. According to data collected by the New York Times, drug-related deaths in Texas is up 18 percent since 2019. These numbers are expected to rise as people struggling with addiction face challenges of isolation, loss of connection to normalcy, friends and family and even their livelihoods, lead
Working locally to address addiction during a difficult holiday season Created: 21 December 2020
Cities and states across our country, including here in Utah are taking necessary precautions, locking down and ordering people to quarantine as COVID numbers rise. In Utah, we have already lost more than 1,000 people to COVID, but there is another crisis taking lives in our community made even worse by the COVID pandemic addiction.
Each year Utah loses more than 400 lives to opioid overdoses. Each month more than 100 people find their way to local emergency rooms while overdosing. These numbers are expected to rise as people struggling with addiction face challenges of isolation, loss of connection to normalcy, friends and family and even their livelihoods, leading into the holiday season.
Taylor and Castleberry: Working in local communities to address addiction during a hard holiday Season roanoke.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from roanoke.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.