Data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) indicates that approximately 81,230 drug overdose deaths occurred in the US in that period.

“This represents a worsening of the drug overdose epidemic in the United States and is the largest number of drug overdoses for a 12-month period ever recorded,” the CDC alert said.

The most common are overdoses from synthetic opioids such as illicitly manufactured fentanyl. But there’s also an increase in deaths from drugs such as methamphetamine and cocaine, the CDC added.

And the numbers look grim. “The 12-month count of synthetic opioid deaths increased 38.4% from the 12 months ending in June 2019 compared with the 12 months ending in May 2020,” the CDC said.