Deaths From Drug Overdoses Set New High In 2021

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Drug overdose deaths were primarily due to a spike in synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl.

These fatalities in the United States reached record highs in 2021. The great majority of these synthetic opioids are smuggled from Mexico into the southwest border region of the United States.

A 50% Rise From 2019

As shown by recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an apparent total of about 108,000 passed away, due to drug overdoses in 2021.

Compared to 2020, this represents an increase in mortality caused by drugs of roughly 15 percent.

Since the 1970s, the number of people who have died from an overdose in the United States has been steadily increasing.

Still, this trend significantly accelerated during the COVID-19 outbreak when the authorities ordered lockdowns.

There has been a nearly 50% increase in deaths caused by drug overdoses since 2019. This is primarily due to mixtures formed with powdered synthetic opioids like fentanyl and stimulants like methamphetamine.

In the year 2020, there were roughly 58,000 deaths associated with synthetic opioids, most of which were caused by fentanyl. By 2021, that figure increased to 71,000.

The fentanyl seized by US Customs and Border Protection in South Texas ports of entry during fiscal year 2021 increased by 1,066 percent over the amount seized in fiscal year 2020.

Since October 2022, when the new fiscal year began, Border Patrol agents have been able to seize around 340,000 pounds of illegal substances along the border.

There are roughly 5,310 pounds of fentanyl included in that total, whereas there are 88,009 pounds of meth.

Proposal By Trump

Consequently, several states, many of which have borders with Mexico, reported an increase in the frequency of hospital visits. They also mentioned a rise in the fatalities attributed to fentanyl in the year 2021.

Even places like Kansas and Maine, which are hundreds to thousands of miles away from the United States-Mexico border, are dealing with record-high overdose mortalities.

They are dealing with this as a result of medicines that were made in Northern Mexico laboratories and then smuggled into the country.

It has been reported that former President Trump proposed firing missiles at these labs in 2020. These labs are the origin of many drugs that are found in overdose deaths in the United States.

However, his idea to eradicate the Mexican cartels responsible for large portions of the drug trade was shot down by the Secretary of Defense, at the time.

This was Mark Esper, who “raised various objections.”

According to a source in The New York Times, “Mr. Trump said he would merely state that the United States had not conducted the strike,” as Mr. Esper recounts in his piece.

“If Mr. Esper hadn’t been looking Mr. Trump in the face at the time, he would have believed it was a joke.”

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