SC’s drug overdose deaths dramatically spiked in 2020, new data shows
Drug overdose deaths, fueled by opioids, rose by nearly 52% in South Carolina in 2020, according to a provisional report released by the Centers For Disease Control on Wednesday.
South Carolina had 1,730 overdose deaths in 2020, the report shows. Across the country, 93,000 people died of overdoses, the highest number ever recorded.
South Carolina’s 52% increase is higher than the national average of almost 30%.
Jenniffer Weller-White, treatment director at the South Carolina rehab center LRADAC, said the “decrease in connection people have had with one another” during the coronavirus pandemic contributed to the rise in overdoses.
“Research tells us substance use increases in isolation and people heal through connection,” she said. “So as the pandemic disrupted access that people had to their loved ones and supportive relationships, recovery capital was threatened and many people experienced recurrence in their substance use or increase in their active use.”
In July 2020, The State reported on South Carolina’s increase in drug overdoses as the coronavirus pandemic deepened.
With the 52% increase, South Carolina ranks fourth among the states for the highest increase in fatal overdoses in 2020. The only states to have more dramatic spikes are Vermont (57.6%), West Virginia (55.6%) and Kentucky (53.7%).
Opioids, including fentanyl and heroin, accounted for nearly 81% of South Carolina’s overdose deaths, according to the report. At least 1,395 people died from opioids.
“As the world works to return to a sense of normalcy, hopefully we’ll see a decrease in substance use and related deaths,” Weller-White said.
Since 2015, overdose deaths have steadily risen in the United States and in South Carolina with people having increased exposure to prescription and illegal opioids. Black market drugs like heroin being diluted with fentanyl contributed to the problem. Counterfeit drugs being sold as one kind but actually being fentanyl also factored into the overdose rise.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid analgesics that’s 100 times stronger than morphine.
People seeking help with drug addiction can call the South Carolina Department of Mental Health rehab center at 803-935-7100 or LRADAC at 803-726-9300.
This story was originally published July 16, 2021 at 10:21 AM.