Drug overdose deaths in US hit all-time record

美国药物过量死亡人数创下历史新高


A record 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses between April 2020 and April 2021. The soaring death count was driven by the availability of highly toxic fentanyl and social isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic.

2020年4月至2021年4月期间,创纪录的10万美国人死于毒品过量。飙升的死亡人数是由剧毒芬太尼的供应和Covid-19大流行期间的社会隔离推动的。

Some 100,306 Americans lost their lives to drug overdoses in the 12 months leading up to April 2021, according to figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Opioids were responsible for just over three-quarters of these deaths, with synthetic opioids – including fentanyl, a drug 50 times more potent than heroin – responsible for more than six in 10 fatalities.

根据美国疾病控制和预防中心(CDC)公布的数字,在2021年4月之前的12个月里,约有100306名美国人因药物过量而丧生。阿片类药物是这些死亡的四分之三以上的原因,合成阿片类药物--包括芬太尼,一种比海洛因强效50倍的药物--是每10个死亡者中超过6个的原因。

The CDC’s death count is not a final figure, while 98,000 deaths have been concretely lixed with drug overdoses during the above-mentioned period, a final count may well exceed 103,000. Regardless, the number is the highest ever recorded in a 12-month period in the US. 2020 saw 93,331 people die of drug overdoses, a 30% increase over 2019 and a record high until Wednesday’s tally was released.

疾病预防控制中心得出的死亡人数并不是最终数字,虽然在上述期间有9.8万人的死亡与药物过量有具体联系,但最终的数字很可能超过10.3万人。不管怎么说,这个数字是美国有史以来12个月内的最高记录。2020年有93,331人死于毒品过量,比2019年增加了30%,在周三的统计数字公布之前,也是历史最高纪录。

In a statement marking the “tragic milestone,” President Joe Biden said his administration is “doing everything in our power to address addiction and end the overdose epidemic.” To that end, he pledged to deliver better healthcare and mental health services, and boasted that his American Rescue Plan has already delivered nearly $4 billion “to strengthen and expand services for substance use disorder.”

在纪念这一"悲惨的里程碑"的声明中,总统乔-拜登说,他的政府正在"尽一切努力解决吸毒成瘾问题并结束吸毒过量的流行病"。 为此,他承诺提供更好的医疗保健和心理健康服务,并吹嘘说他的美国救援计划已经提供了近40亿美元,"以加强和扩大对药物使用障碍的服务。"

Among the states worst affected by the surge in overdoses were the Appalachian states of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, where deaths increased by 62%, 54%, and 50% respectively. Though Vermont recorded the fifth-lowest number of overdose deaths in the nation, it saw the biggest percentage increase, with just under 70% more people dying.

受用药过量激增影响最严重的州是阿巴拉契亚山脉的西弗吉尼亚州、肯塔基州和田纳西州,其死亡人数分别增加了62%、54%和50%。尽管佛蒙特州的服药过量死亡人数在全国排名第五低,但增幅最大,死亡人数增加了差不多70%。

Barring a minor dip in 2018, overdose deaths have steadily climbed since 2015. Recent surges have been blamed on the coronavirus pandemic, with 2020’s peak attributed to stress, uncertainty, and a “difficulty in accessing life-saving treatments for substance-use disorders” Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said in a statement in July.

除去2018年的小幅下降,自2015年以来,用药过量的死亡人数一直在稳步攀升。最近的激增被归咎于冠状病毒大流行,2020年的高峰被归咎于压力、不确定性和"难以获得拯救生命的药物使用障碍的治疗",国家药物滥用研究所所长诺拉-沃尔科博士在7月的一份声明中说。
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Yet opioid abuse was killing Americans long before the coronavirus reached US shores. Voters in the hardest-hit states like West Virginia and Kentucky sent Trump into office in 2016 pledging to end the crisis, but despite him directing funding to overdose prevention and treatment, tightening security and trafficking enforcement at the US/Mexico border, and signing a bill cracking down on mail shipments of fentanyl from China, overdoses under his tenure increased unabated.

然而,早在冠状病毒到达美国海岸之前,阿片类药物的滥用就已经在杀害美国人。西弗吉尼亚州和肯塔基州等受影响最严重的州的选民在2016年将特朗普送上台,后者承诺结束这场危机,但尽管他确实将资金用于过量预防和治疗,加强美国/墨西哥边境的安全和贩运执法,但他任内的过量服用情况有增无减。

During the 2021 fiscal year, which ended in October, federal agents seized more than twice as much fentanyl at the US/Mexico border than during 2020, and nearly four times as much as in 2019.

在10月结束的2021财年,联邦特工在美国/墨西哥边境查获的芬太尼数量是2020年的两倍多,是2019年的近四倍。

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