Drug Overdose Deaths Skyrocket In 2020 Fueled By Coronavirus Pandemic

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 19: Police tape blocks a street where a person was recently shot in a drug related event in Kensington on July 19, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, over 93,000 people died from a drug overdose last year in America. These numbers and the continued rise in opioid use made 2020 the deadliest year on record for drug overdoses. Officials have said that the increase is being driven by the lethal prevalence of fentanyl and stressed Americans due to the Covid pandemic. Kensington, a neighborhood in Philadelphia, has become one of the largest open-air heroin markets in the United States. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)