Hi, everyone. Maddie Sifaya here.

Earlier this year, we had an episode about the deadly trifecta of COVID-19, opioids, and racism.

And since then, the opioid-related death toll has only risen.

From September 2019 to September 2020, synthetic opioid deaths rose by more than 50%.

So with this news, we wanted to reshare that earlier episode with ProPublica Reporter, Dua Aldeib.

Alright, here's the show.

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.

In 2017, the governor of Illinois implemented a plan to halt the explosive growth of opioid deaths in the state.

The plan was to cut those deaths by at least a third by the end of 2020.

2020 was going to be this turning point for Illinois.

Dua Aldeib is a reporter with ProPublica.

They started to see a decrease in opioid overdose deaths,

and so they were really kind of making progress across the state, and they were really hopeful.

But early last year, Dua got a tip that the number of opioid-related deaths might actually be on the rise in the region.

So, she and her colleague, Melissa Sanchez, started investigating.

They analyzed death records from the Cook County Medical Examiner's office,

and what they found was alarming.

We found that opioid overdoses surged in Cook County, and specifically in Chicago,

and that those overdoses were disproportionately killing black residents.

I think by the summer, we had seen about 1100 residents who had died of suspected or confirmed opioid overdoses,

which is about double the number from the year before.

Drug overdose deaths are on the rise all around the country.

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