SC drug overdose deaths rose by almost 52% last year.

According to the Centers For Disease Control, South Carolina had 1,730 overdose deaths.

The US had 93,000 overdose deaths, a new record.

The state’s 52% increase is higher than the 30% US average.

Jenniffer Weller-White, treatment director at the LRADAC rehab center, told The State newspaper the pandemic’s lockdowns and isolation contributed to the overdoses.

South Carolina ranks 4th among states with the highest increases.

Vermont with 57.6%, West Virginia 55.6% and Kentucky 53.7% were higher.

Opioids including fentanyl and heroin caused nearly 81% of SC’s 1,395 overdose deaths, according to the CDC.

Black market drugs such as heroin cut with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that is similar to morphine but is 50 to 100 times more potent, contributed.