2023 may go down in history as the year the United States fully grasped the severity of the fentanyl crisis, a crisis that is ravaging communities and deepening societal divisions over how to address it.
For the first time, the nation saw overdose deaths surpass 112,000, disproportionately affecting young individuals and communities of color. This crisis now overshadows past drug epidemics, including those of the 1980s and the prescription opioid surge in the 2000s, according to drug policy experts and those affected by addiction.
A North Carolina harm reduction advocate, who admits to occasional use of street opioids including fentanyl, described the devastation: "Our entire community has been decimated. Fentanyl is dangerous, and xylazine is outright poison," she explained. "So many people I know have died, including my daughter, and our mentors. The danger level is unprecedented."
Health professionals point to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid far stronger than heroin, as the primary culprit in these deaths. However, the illegal drug market has become increasingly hazardous, offering a lethal mix of substances including fentanyl, methamphetamines, and a constantly evolving array of new chemicals.
Recent dangers include xylazine, a horse sedative causing severe flesh wounds in users, and nitazenes, a class of synthetic opioids potentially more lethal than fentanyl. Mexican cartels are known to press these substances into pills, deceptively designed to mimic legitimate medication for depression, pain, and ADHD.
Drug overdoses are now among the leading causes of death for Americans aged 18-45, and there's been a notable increase in overdose deaths among pregnant women. The fentanyl issue has sparked intense political debate. Several Republican politicians have criticized the Biden administration for its perceived failure to curb fentanyl smuggling.
A former South Carolina governor, now a GOP presidential hopeful, highlighted the crisis's magnitude during a New Hampshire speech on December 14, noting that fentanyl has caused more American deaths than the combined fatalities of the Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam wars.
Drug fatalities in the United States began to escalate dramatically in early 2020, rising from an already alarming annual figure of 65,000 to what many policymakers now fear is a new norm exceeding 110,000 deaths per year. Initially, public health experts attributed this surge to the Covid-19 pandemic, as lockdowns disrupted addiction treatment services and increased feelings of isolation.
However, the expectation that this surge in overdose deaths would diminish with the return to normalcy in American life has not materialized. The director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the premier agency for drug policy and addiction research in the U.S., expressed concern: "The numbers keep increasing. I had been hopeful that post-Covid, we would see a decline. While the rate of increase isn't as steep, the numbers are still on the rise."
By 2023, the overdose death toll reached a record high of over 112,000 within a 12-month period, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
