Fearmongering a major factor in overdose deaths

In the Nov. 18 Daily Herald an above-the-fold article on Page One about the 28.5% spike in drug-overdose deaths from April 2020 through April 2021, there was nary even a vague allusion to lockdowns and other actions implemented by various state and federal authorities that could have created this horrendous increase in drug ingestion. The headline and much of the content of the piece create the impression that this spike was caused chiefly by fentanyl.

Yet, during this 12-month period, fentanyl and opioids were no more able under their own volition to enter human bodies than they were pre-COVID. A comprehensive and truthful report on this spike in overdose deaths would explicitly emphasize the high probability that major contributing factors were the around-the-clock fearmongering which blew COVID's dangers utterly out of proportion.

This coverage combined with governments' unprecedented disruption of human life that suddenly destroyed jobs, hid our individualities behind masks and thwarted the personal and intimate interactions of neighbors, friends and families.

These government-imposed obstructions, along with unwarranted hysteria, led to a country where many people lead dehumanized and fearful lives. It's certainly no wonder that so many more people sought escape through the use of drugs.

Joe H. Heater

Palatine