Rhode Island Sees Record-Breaking Drug Overdose Deaths In 2020

PROVIDENCE, RI — Rhode Island saw a sharp spike in the number of overdose deaths recorded in the state during the first half of the year, according to new data from the Rhode Island Department of Health.

"It's worse now than it ever has been," said Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, the department's director.

From January to July 2020, there were 233 accidental drug overdose deaths in the state, according to the Office of the State Medical Examiners, compared to 185 during the same period last year. During that period, all drug overdose deaths increased by 26 percent, and opioid-related overdose deaths spike 33 percent.

Rhode Island saw its all-time peak in drug overdose deaths in 2016, and has steadily seen a decrease since then, until this year, which is projected to break that record by as much as 25 percent of more. July 2020 marked the highest number of drug overdose fatalities in a single month since the beginning of data collection.

"What underlies the diseases of substance use disorder and COVID-19 are factors in our communities that affect people’s abilities to be healthy and safe, such as housing, employment, education, and discrimination," Alexander-Scott said. "While getting prevention and treatment resources into the community to prevent overdoses immediately, we need to continue working to address these larger structural issues. Every single overdose is preventable. There is help and there is hope for everyone who is living with the disease of substance use disorder."

While isolation and mental health issues stemming from the coronavirus pandemic are no doubt a large factor in this increase, Alexander-Scott pointed out that the spike has been happening since the beginning of the year, tw0 months before lockdowns started. One likely culprit is the proliferation of counterfeit pills, which are made to look like prescriptions, especially the opioid oxycodone and benzodiazepines, which are sedatives. Unlike credibly produced pills, it's impossible to know what substances are in these pills, which are more lethal when crushed and snorted, the department said. Other likely factors include the use of more than one substance at the same time, and illegally made fentanyl in drug such as methamphetamine, cocaine, counterfeit pills and more.

Kathryn Power, the director of the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals, said the pandemic and more potent drugs "have stressed an already fragile system."

"These challenges might have led people who were in recovery to relapse," Power said. "In other cases, people who use drugs occasionally, like cocaine, might have succumbed to an overdose by not knowing fentanyl was present."