In 2018, Congress took the important step of passing the landmark SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, comprehensive legislation aimed at reversing high rates of drug overdose deaths. At the same time, the Trump administration acted aggressively to cut off the supply of illicit fentanyl in our communities by temporarily scheduling fentanyl analogs as a Schedule I controlled substance.
By all measures, this all-the-above approach was working. Between January 2018 and 2019, drug overdose rates declined, and we only experienced a small increase in drug overdose rates between January 2019 and 2020. But then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and lockdowns suddenly left millions of people trapped inside their homes and without the critical support systems needed to help people cope with substance use disorder.
