Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 6:46 AM
By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials say an estimated 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in one year. That’s a total the nation has never seen. Experts say it’s tied to the COVID-19 pandemic and a more dangerous drug supply. Overdose deaths have been rising for more than two decades. But they accelerated dramatically in the past two years — jumping nearly 30% in the last year alone. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the new figures Wednesday. The numbers for the period from May 2020 to April 2021 aren’t yet final.