Skip to content

Opioid overdose deaths are up again in 2021, powered by fentanyl

Published on 12 Comments on Opioid overdose deaths are up again in 2021, powered by fentanyl

The CDC released drug overdose death figures for the full year 2021 today. Here they are:

Fentanyl accounted for 64% of total opioid deaths in 2021. Fentanyl overdose deaths have increased from under 10,000 in 2015 to nearly 70,000 in 2021.

12 thoughts on “Opioid overdose deaths are up again in 2021, powered by fentanyl”

    2. Salamander

      It's also legally considered a "narcotic" -- although biologically, it's just the opposite. The clash between common usage, scientific/technical description, and legal terms can be mind-boggling. I wish that Judge Jackson had made this point when Senator Lindsey demanded she define "woman."

  2. cephalopod

    The peak year for opioid prescriptions was 2012: https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/rxrate-maps/index.html

    We created a large population of opioid-dependent people and then cut them off from their previously regulated supply. Now we have lots of street dealers who have found a really deadly innovation.

    It is super depressing. It will also take a while to unwind this mess. The market for drugs will likely adjust. If recreational drug use is viewed as too deadly, it will be harder to get new users to try anything. Some dealers will be able to create a more dependable supply. But a lot of people will die in the meantime.

  3. jte21

    Late last year some kids at my son's highschool were rushed to the ER after unwittingly vaping something from a cartridge laced with fentanyl. Almost killed them. It's nasty, nasty shit and it's easy to smuggle, the drug market is flooded with it, and therefore it's also super cheap relative to cocaine or heroin.

  4. arghasnarg

    Sounds like ODs are mainly still a QC issue that would be solved by competent dealers. Instead, we keep busting them.

    Sounds like we will get more ODs.

  5. Goosedat

    Opioid deaths are the result of despair and laws prohibiting access to pharmaceutical grade drugs that are the preferred medicine of America's significant population of dissipated and disaffected. If diazepam and codeine could be obtained legally and easily there would be many fewer overdose deaths.

  7. hippyfreak

    As an opioid dependent pain patient, I am lucky to be able to find a doctor who will prescribe the oxycodone I need to manage my chronic pain in order to function. I live in SoCal and it is depressing to find out that doctors no longer care if you are in pain or can even get out of bed, they care about not prescribing a med due to public government statistics and pressure that have more to do with not prescribing a med than prescribing it.

    I am not addicted to oxycodone, I use it when needed for neuropathy, I have tried every other med out there and oxy is the only one that works. If someone who deals with daily neuropathic pain is not able to go to a doctor and get the medicine that works to relieve that pain, where the heck do you think that person is going to go or what do you think that person may do.

    I am not an advocate for opioids, I think doctors got way to pill happy but as with everything in the USA, overblown political bullshit enters the lives of people who just need to be able to sleep.

    Imagine the worst headache or hangover you have ever had, and then put that pain in your leg, your back, ankle, elbow or wrist and let it run all day, everyday, with no relief. No sleep, if you are lucky, if you do not move it might abate for a few minutes. As soon as you just drift off to sleep, your body moves and bam, wide awake with a white hot branding iron on your skin, or in your bones. Why are people buying fentanyl, and why are people dying? Its really simple, either they run out of money to buy more and are just completely done with the minute to minute all consuming pain so they just end it with the last dose they have, or they buy from the wrong person and poof you are dead.

    Here is the answer, let doctors do what they are supposed to do, help their patients with medical problems live as decent a life as possible. This witch hunt is not like cigarettes, there is no medical reason to smoke cigarettes, there are legitimate and needed uses for Opioids in medicine.

    Thank you for your time.

Comments are closed.