Early Data Show Overdose Deaths and Substance Use Rose During Pandemic

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Recent data on overdose deaths and substance use paint a grim picture of what the COVID-19 pandemic year has been like for people who are predisposed to substance use.

Nationally, there were 87,000 drug overdose deaths between October 2019 and September 2020, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In San Francisco, twice as many deaths were caused by drug overdoses as COVID-19 between June and November 2020, as Thomas Fuller reported in the New York Times.

While some of the early data on overdose deaths (both nationally and in San Francisco) precede the start of the pandemic, anecdotal evidence suggests that many...