Good morning. Welcome to Axios today. It's Thursday, November 18th. I'm Nyla Budu. Here's

what we're following today. The house issues a rare center of a Republican lawmaker, plus

a debate in Washington over who authorizes military force. But first, today's one big

thing, a new record in drug overdose deaths. Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. are at a record high.

More than 100,000 people died of an overdose in the 12-month period ending in April of this year.

That's according to new CDC data. Dr. Andrew Colodney is here to help us understand why. He's

the medical director for opioid policy research at Brandeis University. Dr. Colodney, thanks for

being with us. Thanks for having me. First, these numbers are for all overdoses. How much of this is

about opioid overdoses specifically? The vast majority of these drug overdose deaths are opioid,

and in particular, they involve an illicitly synthesized opioid called fentanyl.

Were you expecting the numbers to be so high at this point? Opioid overdose deaths have been

skyrocketing for the past few years, and actually for more than 25 years, each year we've been

setting a record for death from drug overdose, and then the next year we break that record.

But the last few years have been the worst, and I expected the numbers to continue to get worse,

but not this bad. And how much of the pandemic exacerbate this?

That's very difficult to say, but there are reasons to believe that COVID did make the

problem worse. For many people with opioid addiction, which is a chronic condition, they're prone

to relapses, and during times of psychosocial stress when there's social isolation, that can make

people more prone to a relapse. In the past, before the opioid supply was so dangerous,

to have a slip or relapse, it might not be life-threatening, but today with such a dangerous opioid

supply, all it takes is one slip. There are also reasons to believe that COVID may have made it

harder for people with opioid addiction to access treatment, and lastly, there are reasons to

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