12个月超10万! 美国药物过量死亡人数创新高

For the first time ever over a 12-month period, the U.S. recorded more than 100,000 deaths from a drug overdose.

在12个月的时间里，美国有史以来第一次有超过10万人死于药物过量。

That took place from last spring to this spring.

这发生在去年春天到今年春天。

Health officials say the spike in overdose deaths starting during the lockdowns of the corona virus pandemic, and they blame that pandemic for playing a role in this.

卫生官员表示，在冠状病毒大流行封锁期间，药物过量死亡人数激增，他们指责疫情在其中发挥了作用。

In most of the drug deaths, almost 2/3 of them, opioids, synthetic pain killers, were a factor.

在大多数药物死亡案例中，近三分之二的死亡案例中，阿片类药物和合成止痛药是一个因素。

This has been a -- an issue long before the pandemic, but it is clear that the problem has -- has never been worse.

早在疫情之前，这就已经是一个问题了，但很明显，这个问题从未如此糟糕过。

And I want to -- and I want to break it down a little bit for you.

我想，我想给你们稍微解释一下。

First of all, the numbers that you see on the screen reflect a one-year period, as you mentioned between April of 2020 and April of 2021, right in the middle of this pandemic.

首先，你在屏幕上看到的数字反映的是一年的时间，正如你提到的，从2020年4月到2021年4月，正好在这场疫情的中间。

More than 100,000 people have died of drug overdoses, and to give you an idea that's a significant increase compared the year before.

超过10万人死于药物过量，与前一年相比，这是一个显著的增长。

But I think it's also worth just digging a little bit deeper and -- and understanding the problem.

但我觉得还是有必要再深入挖掘一下，了解一下这个问题。

Most of this is from opioids and most of this is specifically from a type of opioid known as fentanyl.

大部分是阿片类药物造成的，大部分确切来说是由一种叫做芬太尼的阿片类药物造成的。

Each year alone, DEA has seen enough fentanyl to provide every member of the United States population with a lethal dose.

每年，美国缉毒局就要收到足够多的芬太尼，多到足以给每一个美国人致命的剂量。

And we are still seizing more fentanyl each and every day.

我们每天都在没收更多的芬太尼。

So what exactly is fentanyl? This is an incredibly potent synthetic drug.

那么芬太尼到底是什么呢? 这是一种非常强效的合成药物。

It's said to be 50 to 100 times stronger than other painkillers.

据说它的药效是其他止痛药的50到100倍。

It was developed to help treat cancer patients in severe pain, but it's also been used to cut or be blended with other illegal drugs.

它被开发来帮助治疗癌症患者的剧烈疼痛，但它也被分割使用或用于与其他非法药物混合。

Because illicit pills that contain fentanyl are often made to look like prescription pills,

因为含有芬太尼的非法药物通常看起来像处方药，

some of the people who abuse them don't even know they're taking fentanyl and it's so potent that it's causing overdoses and deaths.

一些滥用它们的人甚至不知道自己在服用芬太尼，药效如此强，以至于会导致过量服用和死亡。

Who's abusing it? Millions.

滥用药物的是谁? 数百万人。

Before the pandemic hit, cnn estimated that more than 10 million Americans ages 12 and older had misused opioids in 2019.

在疫情爆发前，cnn估计2019年有超过1000万12岁及以上的美国人滥用阿片类药物。

We can assume from the new statistics that that's increased over the past year, and the majority of this abuse was of prescription painkillers.

我们可以从新的统计数据推测，这一数字在过去的一年里有所增加，而且大多数滥用的是处方止痛药。

So, people getting these pills illegally are in greater danger of getting fentanyl laced drugs.

因此，非法获得这些药片的人在服用含有芬太尼的药物时面临更大的危险。

Where are they coming from?

这些药物从哪儿来的?

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says most of the illegal fentanyl is manufactured in Mexico and then it's smuggled into the U.S.

美国缉毒局表示，大多数非法芬太尼是在墨西哥生产，然后走私到美国。

Some of it has also come from India.

还有一些来自印度。

Over the years, several presidents have faced this problem.

多年来，几位总统都面临过这个问题。

In 2016, the Obama Administration set aside $1 billion to address the drug epidemic which included heroin and opioids.

2016年，奥巴马政府拨出10亿美元来应对包括海洛因和阿片类药物在内的毒品盛行。

In 2018, the Trump Administration dedicated $6 billion to the fight against opioids, and this year the Biden Administration has put $4 billion towards combating overdose deaths.

2018年，特朗普政府投入了60亿美元用于打击阿片类药物，今年拜登政府投入了40亿美元用于打击过量药物致死。