According to the Spanish newspaper newspaper on November 18, just as the United States is in the coronavirus pandemic, another public health crisis is still quietly harming the physical and mental health of the people in the country.
According to data released by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on November 17, the number of deaths caused by the spread of opiates in the United States has reached an all-time high. Although this information provides provisional data, it means an important indicator for the year-end report to be released in December.
According to the report, between April 2020 and April 2021, more than 10 thousand people died of drug overdose. This figure sets a new record, because the number of deaths caused by drug overdose increased by 28.5% compared with 2019 and 2020.
The report also said that heroin and opiates have quietly spread over the years, but have not received attention from Washington and the media. Now this issue has become a “priority” for the White House.
U.S. President Biden said in a statement: “While making progress in curbing the coronavirus pandemic, we cannot ignore this plague that has affected so many families and communities in our country.” He also said, “We are devoting resources to strengthening prevention programs, improving treatment methods and helping patients recover as soon as possible, while also working to reduce the supply of dangerous substances to the community.”
The report also pointed out that a new feature of drug abuse in the United States is a change in the composition of addicts. In the last 70s of the century, drug users in the United States were black and related to violence, and the U.S. public health department took strict countermeasures, such as arrest and imprisonment.
However, the current historical crisis is different from the past. The vast majority of drug users are white. Vermont has the largest increase in drug overdose deaths in all regions. More than 94% of the total population of this state on the east coast of the United States is white.
