Fatal overdoseshave hit a record peak in the US , with over 100,000 people   break as a result of drug use in the twelve calendar month guide up to April 2021 . This act a 28.5 percent increase on the previous year , and experts say the sharp rise has been fuel by the COVID-19 pandemic   plus a dangerous surge infentanyl - laced drug . Based on prescribed dying certificates from across the body politic , theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC ) reckon that 100,306 Americans died from drug overdoses between May 2020 and April 2021 . The actual figure is yet to be confirm , but it seems certain to shadow   the previous twelvemonth ’s toll of 78,056.Only South Dakota , Delaware , New Hampshire , and New Jersey avoided a rise in drug - related deaths . The peachy spikes hap in Vermont , West Virginia , and Kentucky , where overdoses rose by 70 percent , 62 per centum , and 55 percent respectively . While the US has been in the grip of a disastrousopioid epidemicfor the past 30 years , the increase in overdoses has accelerate dramatically in recent time . The current pandemic is believed to have played a major theatrical role in this escalation , as social isolation triggers an increment in depression and other genial health upshot , while access to vital service that may help to prevent overdoses has been limited . The CDC reported 93,000 overdose deaths in the calendar year for 2020 , the largest annual toll ever memorialise , 29.4 percent in high spirits than the previous class . emergency brake department visitsdue to drug overdoses also move up by 28.5 per centum in 2020 , while a subject in Illinois revealed that black overdosesbegan to increasein late 2019 , when COVID-19 first became a talking point . This same study also note that during the first half of 2020 , more than 80 percent of fateful overdoses in Illinois involve fentanyl , a virile opioid that is progressively being used to debase illegal street drugs . Public health expert say this has sparked a important rise in deaths over the preceding few eld , as many drug substance abuser accidentally overdose when waste substances that have been empale with Sublimaze . Having meet the area immortalise 100,000 yearly overdose end for the first time , President Biden mark the figure “ a tragical milestone ” . Healthcare official , meanwhile , are now call on the regime to dedicate more resources to ending this on-going catastrophe by providing musical accompaniment to those at risk of serious drug economic consumption .