Wednesday 28 September 2022 04:56 PM Opioid crisis costs US $1.5TRILLION in 2020 as fentanyl use rocketed during the ... trends now
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The devastating opioid epidemic in the US has cost the government nearly $1.5trillion in 2020 alone after being exacerbated by the Covid pandemic and rise of fentanyl, new figures show.
There were a record 69,000 deaths from the powerful painkillers that year alone — a figure which rose to a new high of more than 75,000 in 2021.
Officials said the opioid crisis, which has been surging for decades, reached its apex during the pandemic when lockdowns and hospital closures left people particularly vulnerable to addiction.
Those who had drug habits at a loss for where to go for help and people who were used to being treated in person suddenly were not able to meet with their healthcare providers face-to-face.
The damage caused by the pandemic was coupled with a flood of fentanyl, a lethal synthetic opioid up to 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin. The cheap drug is pouring into the US at astounding rates and contaminating drugs sold on the streets.
The economic toll of opioids for 2020 marks a 37 per cent increase from 2017, the last year the cost was measured by federal authorities.
The latest figures were revealed in
