UNCIVIL WAR –
March 3, 2021 – Jenkins, who lives in upstate New York, says her mom, Sonya Hughey, had a hard life, first using crack cocaine when she was a teenager.
The loneliness and isolation of the pandemic made Hughey’s substance use disorder worse. She was using methamphetamines and in November she was arrested. According to Jenkins, her mother tried to get help. “She asked, you know? Can I get the rehab? I have a drug problem. They said no. Rehab wasn’t an option for her.”
In December, Hughey who was 48 years old used methamphetamines contaminated with the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl. “We got a phone call from my mom’s boyfriend that he found her dead,” Jenkins said.
Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say fatal drug overdoses nationwide have surged roughly 20% during the pandemic, killing more than 83,000 people in 2020.
