US sees record high of overdose deaths amid pandemic: NYT

NEW YORK -- More than 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in the yearlong period ending in April, The New York Times reported Wednesday, citing provisional figures from the National Center for Health Statistics.

It is for the first time the number of overdose deaths in the United States has surpassed 100,000 a year after increasing almost 30 percent from the 78,000 deaths in the prior year, it added.

Overdose deaths have more than doubled since 2015, said the report, adding that it resulted from lost access to treatment, rising mental health problems and wider availability of dangerously potent street drugs.

The fatalities have lasting repercussions, since most of them occurred among people aged 25 to 55, in the prime of life, Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse was quoted as saying.