Opioid overdose deaths rose 68% in New York City amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as drug cartels pushing fatal fentanyl infected people generated a record number of drug-related deaths nationwide.
Nearly 5,000 New Yorkers died from opioid-related overdoses between 2019 and 2021, according to a new investigation by the State Comptroller’s Office. .
The report comes as deaths from depression have skyrocketed due to the combination of social isolation and the economic hardships of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, 2022 is poised to set a new record for drug-related deaths as the government struggles to cope with long-standing addiction and intellectual fitness crises linked to decades of illicit sale and use of prescription painkillers.
Among the report’s findings:
Between 2010 and 2017, drug overdose deaths increased 152% in New York City and 83% nationally. And opioids caused the majority of deaths, from painkillers to heroin and other illicit drugs.
The number of opioid deaths in New York City rose 200 percent during the same period, but then declined for two years after the federal government declared a national opioid-related public fitness emergency in 2017, the report notes.
Synthetic opioids like fentanyl and tramadol, combined with other drugs, are responsible for much of the state’s backlog of drug overdose deaths, from 11 percent of all drug overdose deaths in 2010 to 78 percent in 2021.
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The significant accumulation of intellectual illness over the past decade, especially among young adults, has contributed to substance use disorders and drug overdose deaths, the report notes.
In 2020, only about 10% of young adults ages 18 to 25, or 3. 3 million more people nationally, had a serious intellectual illness and less than 60% were receiving treatment.
New York’s opioid spending this year will exceed $500 million, adding $209 million from an opioid tax and litigation settlements with opioid brands and distributors, the report notes. This is more than double the amount of state spending in 2020.
This year, the state government’s new opioid epidemic plan has partially expanded access to drug remedies and strengthened capacity to treat opioid dependence. It also uses federal investment to implement vaccine inventions in counties that urgently need them and provide training to reverse overdoses.
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Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s investigation recommended, in part, that state officials identify transparent functionality targets and normal reporting on metrics, program evaluations and outcomes.
Some state lawmakers are also pushing for the law to allow a limited number of supervised outdoor illicit drug intake centers in New York City, which already has two sites and is seeking others.