Statistics showed that opioid use accounted for the bulk of the deaths, with nearly 69,000, and the use of synthetic fentanyl caused much of the crisis.

The death toll from overdoses, 93,331 in 2020, was an increase of nearly 30 percent compared to 2019.

The CDC estimates that the rise comes amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which increased isolation, while stretching and redirecting health care resources to fight the virus.

The fentanyl consumption crisis, which has plagued the United States since 2014, has raised alarm because, since 2016, the drugs that are most used and kill more people from overdose have not been those trafficked illegally, but the controlled prescription drugs that are legally produced and distributed in the country.

A Drug Enforcement Administration report maintained that, in 2016, of the 172 people who died from drug overdoses every day, 116 died from prescription drug use.

Controlled prescription substances rank second among those used in the United States. The most commonly used is marijuana, and at least 18 million people aged more than 12 were overusing it in 2016

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