US Commission Estimates That Synthetic Opioid Deaths Are Costing $1 Trillion Annually

The opioid epidemic has been a scourge for countless families and communities across the U.S. for decades, but it has also taken a large toll on the economy.

On Tuesday, the bipartisan Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking published a report that took a shot at estimating the exact cost of drug-related overdoses for the economy and the result was chilling.

According to a 2018 report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers cited by the commission, the cost of overdose fatalities was $696 billion, despite being roughly two-thirds of annual overdose deaths today. Based on this figure, it said it is “reasonable to estimate that drug overdoses are now costing the United States approximately $1 trillion annually."

Rep. David Trone, D-Md., the Democratic co-chair of the Commission, called these findings "devastating" and "unacceptable." Echoing a finding in the report that enforcement actions on their own are not enough, Trone said the national drug policy needed to change dramatically.

"It's no question that without a major shift in U.S. policy, Americans will continue to be killed by synthetic opioids at a record pace," Trone posted on Twitter.

“[Two hundred and seventy-four] Americans die every day from drug overdoses — that’s one person every five minutes, and every day it gets worse,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., co-chair of the commission, said in a statement. “We must destroy the cartels and drug trafficking networks that flood our streets with these poisons to protect our communities. I’m proud to work with my colleagues to combat this epidemic at all levels of government.”

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have called the opioid crisis a national emergency that requires more urgency to resolve. The report pointed to the trafficking of synthetic drugs as not just a public health emergency, but “a national emergency that threatens both the national security and economic well-being of the country.”

In the report, the authors issued five recommendations. It included the creation of a central body to evaluate drug policies, increased data and analysis to inform intervention decisions, and more international efforts to disrupt the production and distribution of synthetic opioids. There remained a place for law enforcement and regulatory actions to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable if they are found to be contributing to overdose deaths.