The other crisis: Drug overdoses in the US rose almost 30% last year

7/15/21 8:00PM

The other crisis

‍Last year we charted about the tragic rise in drug overdose deaths in the United States. Sadly, the preliminary numbers for 2020 are even worse.

Drug overdose deaths in 2020 rose by almost 30% relative to 2019 — with 93,000 people losing their lives to drugs in the US last year. Almost 70,000 of those, or roughly 75% of the total, were related to overdoses in pain-relieving opioids.

‍Opioid overdoses

‍As pain management became more common in the 1980s and 1990s, painkillers were heavily marketed and — officials claim — often over-prescribed thanks to kickbacks and payments given to doctors for doing so, leading to addiction and overdoses.

A number of pharmaceutical companies have been successfully prosecuted for their roles in the opioid crisis. 3 weeks ago Johnson & Johnson reached a settlement to pay $230m towards treatment and prevention and Purdue Pharma — which made OxyContin painkillers — agreed to pay $8.3bn for its role in the crisis last year.

Those legal successes unfortunately feel like a hollow victory as the opioid crisis has never been worse in America.

Tom Jones3h

The UAE’s OPEC exit will hit the group in the barrels

After just shy of 60 years in OPEC, its membership even predating its status as a nation-state, the United Arab Emirates yesterday announced its shocking departure from the oil production group, effective May 1, as the knock-on effects of the Iran war continue to play out across the Middle East and the energy landscape.

For context, the UAE produces the third-highest amount of oil in the group, per April data and OPEC’s latest set of annual statistics.

According to the cartel’s 2025 Annual Statistical Bulletin, the OPEC group was collectively exporting some 19 million barrels of crude oil a day last year, with the United Arab Emirates accounting for some 14% of that daily output.

UAExit means UAExit

The nation, whose energy minister told Reuters yesterday that the decision was taken “after a careful look at current and future policies related to level of production” and wasn’t made following discussions with any other country, made up a healthy share of the group’s total confirmed crude oil reserves, as well.

Of the 12 nations in the core group, which was founded by just five oil superpowers back in September 1960, only two (Iraq and Saudi Arabia) exported more barrels of crude oil daily, pumping out 3.36 million and 6.05 million barrels, respectively, each day to nations around the world.

For its part, the UAE said it will “continue its responsible role by gradually and thoughtfully increasing production, in line with demand and market conditions,” per the official state news agency. Clearly, the nation now wants a little more control of just how much oil it can pump around the world, with the UAE having to eat a large proportion of lost revenues due to its healthy abundance and OPEC restrictions.