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Health

02 Oct 2025

Death toll from drugs has more than doubled worldwide over past three decades

Researchers used new statistical methods to analyze public data on the global health burden due to drug addiction. They showed that drug-related mortality has increased 2.2-fold between 1990 and 2021, especially in high-income countries, despite a 6% reduction in cases after correcting for population growth. This surge in the public health burden from drugs was greatest in the US, and likely due to the combination of opioids and cocaine and worsening social and healthcare conditions for drug users.