WATCH – AMERICAN DEATH MARCH –
April 26, 2021 – “I really don’t see our workload going down significantly for 2021,” added Dr. Jim Caruso, the chief medical examiner in Denver. “The first couple of months of 2021 look just like 2020. The numbers are there. We’re still seeing these fentanyl-laced pills at the scenes.”
According to the CDC data, places like Florida, Louisiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Washington D.C. have all seen their overdose numbers rise by more than 40 percent in 2020. The only state that has not seen its numbers rise over the course of the last year is South Dakota.
“All we know is what’s in the bloodstream, and I can tell you that we’re seeing a lot of mixed drug intoxications,” said Dr. Caruso.
The pandemic affected ways drugs were getting into the country, as cartels in Mexico started transporting fentanyl instead of heroin and other opiates because fentanyl is harder to detect. Its potency and danger likely contributed to more deaths, explained Dr. Caruso.
