www.zerohedge.com By Tyler Durden
The first batch of data from the CDC won’t be available for months, but many expect that the US likely saw a new record in overdose deaths during 2021, after setting a record in 2020 and 2019, with most of the deaths attributed to synthetic opioids like fentanyl that have infected the drug supply throughout the US.
Even drugs like cocaine have been laced with deadly fentanyl, a practice that leads to far more accidental deaths. Almost 2/3rds of the 100K overdose deaths from 2020 involved synthetic opioids, which can be 50x more potent than morphine, if not more.
The surging deaths have alarmed policy makers, who had hoped that cracking down on Big Pharma would help reverse the worst affects of the pandemic. But it seems like it’s already too late; a large market of users who started with Vicodin and oxycodone are still alive, fueling the demand for fentanyl-laced street dope. Meanwhile, the surge in demand for fentanyl has caused street heroin to largely disappear from the US east of the Mississippi.