Drug deaths in Russia spike 60% during pandemic

RFE/RL
Mon, 19 Jul 2021 00:34 UTC

© Official Publication/File photo

Heroin for sale in Moscow

Deaths in Russia from drug-related causes jumped 60 percent in 2020 compared to a year earlier, mirroring trends elsewhere in the world during the coronavirus pandemic.

Last year, 7,316 people died from drug overdoses, up from 4,569 deaths a year earlier, according to data from Russia's statistics agency Rosstat analyzed by RBC news.

From 2016 to 2018, between 4,400 and 4,800 people died from drugs in Russia per year.

In 2020, 50,400 people also died from alcohol-related causes in Russia, or about 6.3 percent more than in 2019.

In June, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime noted the pandemic has led to an increase in drug use worldwide due in part to economic hardships and mental health issues.

Comment: As drug-induced deaths have increased on a global scale, most tragic are the rising numbers of children seeking suicide - an impact on humanity approaching the incalculable. Was escalating suicide a factor considered in the 'global plan'? A good guess would be 'yes'.

See also:

• California doctors say they've seen more deaths from suicide than coronavirus since lockdowns
• Doctors sound warning that child suicide is becoming an 'international epidemic' amid restricted pandemic life
• Lockdown related suicides rise in Japan, women hit hardest
• Deadlier than Covid? Medics sound alarm as lockdown suicides SOAR in US - and health officials knew it would happen
• Suicide hospital visits rose among adolescent girls during pandemic, ER data suggest
• Child suicide attempts increased by up to 200% during pandemic in Canada, warn charities & hospitals