Baltimore: Fentanyl overdose deaths soar in nursing homes

The drug crisis continues to worsen in Baltimore (Maryland). Fentanyl overdoses have increased in recent years and are even affecting older people.

According to the New York Times, an increasing number of the city's overdose deaths have occurred in nursing homes. The exclusive revealed that of the 50 addresses studied as major overdose points (since 2018), 31 are senior housing complexes.

340 people over 50 years old have died from an overdose.

The New York Times reported that in the last five years, around 340 people over the age of 50 have died in nursing homes due to overdoses. Last year alone, 77 older adults died from this cause (twice as many as in 2019):

The investigation indicated that the increase may be caused by several factors. However, the most common is the potency of current medications (which has been growing over the years). Furthermore, it points out that not enough resources have been allocated to prevent drug overdoses in older people.

The overdose crisis is out of control

Overdosing on opioids (pain-relieving medications) is almost an epidemic in the nation. According to The Economist, this is in its "most lethal" phase due to fentanyl, which is responsible for 70% of annual overdose deaths.

According to numbers from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the number of total deaths from opioid overdoses increased more than 300% in 20 years. In 1999 there were fewer than 20,000 deaths compared to 2021 when there were 80,411 deaths. This number turned out to be 75.4% of all drug overdose deaths.

In turn, 88% of these opioid overdose deaths were caused by synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, which is currently the main culprit of the current crisis.