Drug overdose deaths up by 15 pct in Biden's 1st year as president: CDC

NEW YORK, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Drug overdose deaths rose 15 percent in U.S. President Joe Biden's first year in office, according to new data published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

More than 107,000 people in the United States died in 2021 from drug overdoses, of which more than 80,000 died from opioids, according to the statistics.

"Deaths from fentanyl continued to rise as Biden pursued open border policies that allowed more drug traffickers into the United States," The Associated Press report Wednesday, citing CDC data.

Also, deaths continue to rise despite the Biden administration's plan to send more safe smoking kits and clean needles to drug users as part of a "harm-reduction" approach, according to the report.

"The time has come for us to treat addiction like any other disease," Biden once said in a statement. "And at the same time, we are disrupting drug traffickers' financial networks, supply chains and distribution routes, including the Internet."