As COVID fueled the drug crisis, Native Americans hit worst

By CLAIRE GALOFARO
AP National Writer

BEMIDJI, Minn. (AP) — As the pandemic ravaged the country, deaths from drug overdoses surged by nearly 30%, surpassing 100,000 dead for the first time in American history. The drug crisis also diversified from an overwhelmingly white affliction to killing people of color with staggering speed. The death rate last year was highest among Native Americans, for whom COVID-19 piled yet more despair on communities already confronting generations of trauma, poverty, unemployment and underfunded health systems.