U.S. Overdose Deaths Remain Higher Than in Other Countries — How Harm-Reduction Programs Could Help

Drug overdose deaths in the United States have jumped 50 percent since 2019. Recently released provisional data show they likely claimed more than 105,000 lives for a second consecutive year in 2022. Alongside the COVID-19 pandemic, this increase has contributed to the recent drop in American life expectancy.

Other high-income countries also have experienced unprecedented physical and economic disruptions since COVID-19 emerged in 2020, but have any recorded similar jumps in drug-related mortality?

Continue reading at: https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2023/us-overdose-deaths-remain-higher-other-countries-how-harm-reduction-programs-could-help