Opioid crisis costs US $1.5TRILLION in 2020 as fentanyl use rocketed during the pandemic

The devastating opioid epidemic in the US has cost the government nearly $1.5trillion in 2020 alone after being exacerbated by the Covid pandemic and rise of fentanyl, new figures show.

There were a record 69,000 deaths from the powerful painkillers that year alone — a figure which rose to a new high of more than 75,000 in 2021.

The opioid crisis, which has been surging for decades, reached its apex during the pandemic when lockdowns and hospital closures left people particularly vulnerable to addiction. 

Officials said those who had drug habits were suddenly were not able to meet with their healthcare providers face-to-face and worries about job security and lack of social contact pushed more people into drug use.

Damage caused by the pandemic was coupled with a flood of fentanyl, a lethal synthetic opioid up to 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin, into America’s streets.

The economic toll of opioids for 2020 marks a 37 per cent increase from 2017, the last year the cost was measured by federal authorities. The latest figures were revealed in a report issued by the Congressional Joint Economic Committee this week.  

The overall drug overdose death toll in 2020 — which works out at an average of 250 deaths per day — was the equivalent of a jumbo jet full of Americans going down every day with no survivors, said Maryland Democrat David Trone, who sits on the committee that issued the report.

The committee believes society-wide upheaval during the pandemic may have prompted people to switch up dealers who were more likely to sell them fentanyl due to changing drug smuggling patterns.

‘Pandemic-related stress and additional barriers to care likely also led to increased relapse rates among those who struggle with opioid use,’ the report said.

It went on, ‘Factors like self-isolation and the economic shock of the pandemic were linked to higher levels of stress, anxiety and other mental health issues, which worsened conditions for those with substance use disorder.’ 

The committee used the same methodology that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did in its economic impact estimate in 2017. 

Authors of the JEC report estimated the costs of healthcare, criminal justice, and loss productivity in the workforce, as well as costs for reduced quality of life.

In total there were 91,000 drug overdose deaths in 2020 alone. Opioids were involved in nearly three-quarters of all overdose deaths that year. 

And there are signs the opioid crisis has got even worse since 2020. 

Separate data for 2021 shows the total number of overdose deaths from any drug was 107,000 – 75 per cent of which involved opioids. 

The CDC includes deaths caused by fentanyl in its overall tally of opioid deaths. 

A national total of fentanyl overdoses is unavailable but several states have taken it upon themselves to quantify those deaths. 

In Wisconsin, for instance, synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, were identified in 91 per cent of opioid overdose deaths and 73 per cent of all drug overdose deaths over the last year. 

Fentanyl even at tiny doses can prove deadly.

US authorities have been on high alert over the past several years during a torrent of illegal fentanyl entering the country. 

Over 11,200 pounds of fentanyl were seized by Customs and Border Protection in 2021, up 134 per cent from the year prior. 

In the fourth quarter of 2021 alone, authorities seized more than 2million pills containing fentanyl, up from about 42,000 pills in the first quarter of 2018, a 4,850 per cent increase.

The bulk of the fentanyl entering the US was synthesized in clandestine labs in China, India, and Mexico. Mexican drug cartels are moving significant quantities of the drug in pill and powder forms across the US border.  

The dark web has also facilitated access to the drug in powder or pill form by shipping it directly to consumers through the mail. 

Fentanyl can be sold alone but it is often used to pollute other drugs. Because of its low cost and high potency, dealers can traffic more of it without sacrificing the drug effects that their buyers expect. Many people have died of fentanyl poisoning without even knowing they had ingested fentanyl. 

President Joe Biden has professed his goal of remedying the epidemic, which had its genesis in the 1990s with the introduction of the first prescription opioids. In the years that followed, doctors around the country, unaware of or unwilling to acknowledge the risk of addiction, flooded the market with prescriptions for the drugs. 

The administration announced last week that it would award $1.5 billion to states, tribal lands, and territories to fund access to addiction prevention, treatment, and the overdose reversal drug naloxone. The White House also announced additional financial sanctions would be placed on entities involved in drug trafficking.

Overdose data for 2022 is still being collected but rising seizures at the border and ever-growing fatalities suggest the crisis will worsen before it improves.

‘It’s a mass poisoning’: Images show rainbow-colored fentanyl disguised as Skittles and Nerds CANDY – as ex-DEA official warns parents that dealers are peddling the drugs to kids on social media

A drug that’s contributed to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans last year has been found hidden in candy packaging – and could be peddled to young children via social media, experts say.

The DEA said drug traffickers have expanded their inventory to sell fentanyl – a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin – in a variety of bright colors, shapes and sizes. 

A recent seizure in Connecticut found 15,000 fentanyl pills stashed in Skittles and Nerds packaging, and with Halloween just weeks away, the DEA is urging parents to be vigilant. 

The agency have sent a stern warning to parents to educate themselves as children prepare for the spooky season, with a former specialist warning that ‘this is not a drug issue, it’s a mass poisoning.’ 

During the period of May 23 to September 8 this year, 10.2 million fentanyl pills and about 980 pounds of fentanyl powder were seized by the the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as part of the One Pill Can Kill initiative.

Of the 390 cases investigated during this period, 51 cases have been linked to overdose poisonings and 35 cases link directly to one or both of the primary Mexican cartels responsible for the majority of fentanyl in the United States – the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). 

In addition, 129 investigations are linked to social media platforms, including Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and TikTok. 

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland told the DEA that the drug has had a devastating impact on the community.

‘Across the country, fentanyl is devastating families and communities, and we know that violent, criminal drug cartels bear responsibility for this crisis,’ said Garland.

‘The Justice Department, including the extraordinary professionals of the DEA, is working to disrupt and dismantle the operations of these cartels, remove deadly fentanyl from our communities, and save Americans’ lives.’

DEA administrator Anne Milgram said cracking down on the fentanyl crisis has been a priority.

‘The most urgent threat to our communities, our kids, and our families are the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG who are mass producing and supplying the fentanyl that is poisoning and killing Americans,’ said Milgram.

‘The Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG are ruthless, criminal organizations that use deception and treachery to drive addiction with complete disregard for human life.

‘To save American lives, the DEA is relentlessly focused on defeating the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG by degrading their operations to make it impossible for them to do business.’

Former DEA special operations director Derek Maltz told Fox and Friends that it’s important for parents to be educated about the dangers kids face from drugs.

‘We’re seeing an unprecedented amount of kids dying as young as 13 years old and we know now, the DEA says, that 40 percent of the pills contain a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl,’ he said.

‘[Parents] have to be proactive. Its deadly fentanyl, and it’s flooding our streets like we’ve never seen.

‘This is not a drug issue, it’s a mass poisoning.’

Of the 107,622 Americans who have died from drug poisoning or overdose in 2021, 66 percent (approximately 71,030) is attributed to fentanyl.

Rainbow fentanyl was first reported to DEA in February 2022, and it has now been seized in 21 states across the country.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin. Just two milligrams of fentanyl, or the amount that could fit on the tip of a pencil, is considered a potentially lethal dose.