San Francisco could break its own record for drug overdose deaths within a year. According to The San Francisco Chronicle, 252
accidental drug overdose deaths were recorded between January and April.

Over 700 drug overdose deaths were recorded in 2020, which was more
than twice the amount of deaths it recorded due to the coronavirus. San
Francisco could see more than 500 deaths by the end of the year if the overdose
deaths continue at the same rate.

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“Fingers crossed that overall, we don’t see a substantial
increase in 2021 as we saw last year,” Phillip Coffin, Director of Substance
Use Research at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, told the
Chronicle.

Coffin said that they had projected mortality to go up as
fentanyl had spiked mortality everywhere. Fentanyl is believed to be the main
cause of overdose deaths.

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According to Coffin, fentanyl is proven to be much deadlier than cocaine as
it can kill a person within 5 minutes.