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Deaths from drug and alcohol use are rising among America’s seniors. Drug overdose deaths more than tripled among people age 65 and older during the past two decades while deaths from alcohol abuse increased more than 18% from 2019 to 2020, according to data published Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics. (Kimball, 11/30)

The report on drug overdose deaths, based on data from the CDC’s National Vital Statistics System, found that death rates in 2020 involving opioids were highest when they specifically involved synthetic opioids other than methadone, such as tramadol or fentanyl. ... Another new report from the National Center for Health Statistics finds that rates of alcohol-induced deaths among adults 65 and older have been climbing since 2011 and rose more than 18% from 2019 to 2020. In 2020, more than 11,000 older adults died of alcohol-induced causes. (Howard, 11/30)

More than half of the fake pills analyzed in Drug Enforcement Administration laboratories this year were found to be laced with a potentially fatal dose of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid fueling an unprecedented number of fatal overdoses in the country. (Kucher, 11/27)

In L.A. County, the number of deaths linked to fentanyl rose from 109 in 2016 to 1,504 in 2021, amounting to a 1,280% increase, the Public Health Department found. Last year, fentanyl was involved in 55% of overdose deaths across the county, and among 12- to 17-year-olds who died of an overdose, the vast majority — 92% — tested positive for the drug. (Alpert Reyes and Ellis, 11/29)

In the first six months of 2022, there were 118 fentanyl-related overdose deaths, meaning someone died of an overdose and had fentanyl in their system. It’s the exact same number Travis County, which encompasses the capital of Austin, saw in all 12 months of 2021. (Reader, 11/27)