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According to a US NEWS staff writer, preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates 70,980 reported drug overdose deaths in 2019, a rise from 67,850 in 2018 and surpassing the previous peak in 2017. 2018 was the first year that fatal overdoses had fallen in three decades. Also, there are early indications that the country's addiction crisis is only getting worse amid the Covid pandemic. In fact, drug overdose deaths were up 11.4% in the first four months of 2020 compared with the same time last year, while nonfatal overdoses were up 18.6%, according to a May analysis conducted with the White House's drug policy office. View the original article by By Gaby Galvin, here.