New York Comptroller Report: Statewide drug overdose deaths increased during COVID pandemic

ALBANY, NY- Drug overdose fatalities surged during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York state, with opioid-related overdose deaths increasing by 68% to nearly 5,000 individuals from 2019 to 2021, according to a report released from the office of New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

The surge is largely due to a sharp increase in deaths from opioids related to illicit fentanyl and similar synthetic opioids. Overdose deaths statewide from opioids and all drugs (5,841) in 2021 surpassed the previous 2017 peak by more than 1,700 fatalities.

The report highlights the share of drug overdose deaths in the state involving opioids increased to 85% in both 2020 and 2021 from 69% in 2010.

For the better part of a decade, drug overdose deaths were on the rise both in New York and across the country, growing 152% in the state between 2010 and 2017, compared to 83% nationally.

Deaths in New York had peaked at almost 4,000 in 2017, when the federal government declared a nationwide opioid public health emergency.

Image courtesy via the DEA.