Deaths from drug overdose up 27% in Minnesota, COVID-19 restrictions to blame

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, in 2020, an estimated 1,008 Minnesotans died from a drug overdose. This is 27 percent higher than in 2019, when 792 individuals died from a similar cause. Overdose deaths in 2020 were higher than in 2019 for every month.

This increase in drug-related death is an unfortunate reversal from the decline that we saw in 2018 and 2019. And the COVID-19-related lockdowns are heavily to blame for that.

The onset of a previously unknown virus that already had taken many lives across the world led many treatment and outreach resources to abruptly shut down, limiting access and support to those with substance use disorders.

“With COVID there’s this terrible storm about lack of access to treatment medications, housing and treatment facilities,” said Dr. Ryan Kelly, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School. “It made it more difficult to access those things and people died because of that.”

The youth have paid a huge price

Generally, overdose deaths are more prevalent among the younger population. The same was true in 2020. Individuals aged 25 to 34 had the highest number of overdose deaths and saw the highest jump in deaths from 2019. 274 individuals in this age group died from an overdose in 2020, while only 15 died from COVID-19. To put it in perspective, individuals aged 25-34 were 18 times more likely to die from an overdose than from COVID-19. It is similar to individuals aged 35-44, although to a lesser extent. Individuals in this group were four times more likely to die from overdose than from COVID-19 in 2020.

The biggest discrepancy in risk is among individuals aged 15-24. People in this group were 40 times more likely to die from an overdose than from COVID-19. Individuals aged 54 and younger had about four times the risk of dying from an overdose than from COVID-19.

On the flip side, the median age of death from COVID-19 was 83. For 2020, MDH reports that 2398 people aged 85 and over died from COVID-19 compared to just 10 from an overdose. This means an individual in this age group was 240 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than from an overdose. Individuals aged 65-74 and 75-84 were about 20 and 200 times more likely to die from COVID-19, respectively.

Figure 3: Overdose and COVID-19 deaths by age group, 2020

Source: Minnesota Department of Health

COVID fear-mongering imposed massive costs on the youth

In an ideal world, every policy lawmakers enact should pass a cost-benefit test. That is, benefits must outweigh costs. COVID-19 restrictions did not go through such a path. Instead, lawmakers justified restrictions on he grounds of protecting the masses without considering all the other costs of the restrictions. This has proven costly, especially for the youth who face a low risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19, but have been forced to bear the brunt of the costs of lockdowns. The rise in overdose deaths is the latest example of that phenomenon.

From massive unemployment to loss in learning as well as increased deaths due to excessive alcoholism or drug abuse, COVID-19 restrictions have imposed significant costs on younger individuals. The youth have suffered heightened depression, stress, and anxiety, and lost lifetime earnings due to heavily misguided policy.

We should not be surprised, as more evidence becomes available, just how much harm the COVID-19 restrictions caused while providing little to no benefit.