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WEKU
WEKU
National
Rhitu Chatterjee

Overdose deaths continued to rise in 2021, reaching historic highs

Containers of pills and prescription drugs are boxed for disposal during the Drug Enforcement Administration's 20th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on April 24, 2021. Nearly 108,000 people died in 2021 from drug overdoses. (PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP via Getty Images)

New provisional data released by the federal government estimates that nearly 108,000 people died from drug overdoses from January to December, 2021.

"That's about a 15% increase from the number of deaths in 2020," says Farida Ahmad, a research scientist with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. Nearly 94,000 died in 2020.

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