US Drug Overdose Deaths Surged Nearly 30 Percent in 2020 to Record High

A heroin user displays a needle in a South Bronx neighborhood that has the highest rate of heroin-involved overdose deaths in New York City, on Oct. 6, 2017. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Deaths from drug overdose in the United States jumped nearly 30 percent in 2020 from the year before, according to provisional data released July 14.

More than 93,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2020, up from 72,151 in 2019, according to provisional statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).