The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the opioid crisis in America

This appeared in The Millennial Source

With vaccinations being administered and COVID-19 cases and deaths declining, the Biden administration may soon be able to refocus attention on the ongoing opioid crisis.

While most of the nation and its medical experts were understandably focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, an opioid crisis that has ravaged the United States for decades quietly grew worse. Even before the pandemic, the US led the world in the number of opioid-related overdose deaths, but such deaths spiked in early 2020 as much of the country went into lockdown.

Figures in both major US political parties have called the opioid crisis a top priority, with former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden each vowing in their campaigns to tackle it. During his time in office, Trump formed a commission to address the crisis, but the pandemic took precedent last year.

With vaccinations being administered and COVID-19 cases and deaths declining, the Biden administration may soon be able to refocus attention on the ongoing opioid crisis. Biden has already taken one concrete step by staffing up the Office on National Drug Control Policy with experts. But combating the opioid crisis will require substantial actions, especially after it worsened in 2020.