Overdose rates soaring in the pandemic

 *Appeared in the Laurel Leader-Call newspaper 

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently released a report showing overdose deaths rose to a record 93,000 for 2020, right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to calculations done by the Associated Press, that translates into roughly 11 deaths every hour or more than 250 deaths each day. It’s an approximate 30 percent year-over-year increase. 

 

The New York Times noted several “grim records were set” during the last year: the most drug overdose deaths in a year; the most deaths from opioid overdoses; the most overdose deaths from stimulants like methamphetamine; the most deaths from the deadly class of synthetic opioids known as fentanyls. 

 

According to CDC data, fentanyl was involved in more than 60 percent of the overdose deaths. (Fetanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is similar to morphine but, according to www.drugabuse.gov, approximately 50 to 100 times more potent.) 

 

In Mississippi, overdose deaths rose by a whopping 34.9 percent, from an estimated 387 deaths to an estimated 522 deaths. This is a public policy crisis, but it’s felt most at the personal levels. 

 

According to Shannon Monnat, an associated professor who researches geographic patterns in overdoses, there is no evidence to suggest that more Americans started using drugs last year, but rather the increased deaths were likely people who had already been struggling with addiction, she told the Washington Post. 

 

Some contributing factors were related to the pandemic, such as suspension of evictions and extended unemployment benefits, leaving more money in the pocket of addicts. This, along with the added pressure of lockdowns and other pandemic restrictions, contributed to a sense of isolation and led to many stocking up on their drug supplies, according to Monnat. 

 

I’ve written before about the stressors of life during the pandemic, and how our collective mental health has suffered.  But these numbers tell a dire story, not just about the impact of COVID-19 but about the more prevalent issue facing Americans today: addiction. 

 

My late Irish grandfather (Tom) was an alcoholic, and his legacy of “doing the next right thing” is something I’ll never forget. He embodied the spirit of what addiction can – and cannot – do to a person. Tom’s struggle with alcohol was a challenge, but he got help through Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and became a sponsor for tens of people in the Laurel-Jones County area.  Even in his 90s, Tom still attended meetings and spoke to fellow addicts who were struggling with their drug of choice. 

 

And yet, Tom’s story could have been much different.  Tom could have ended up an overdose death in CDC data, lost to history as a meaningless statistic with little to show for his life.  I’m so grateful to the good Lord that Tom’s story turned out differently. 

 

Addiction is real, and it comes in all forms.  Addiction doesn’t walk through the door and announce itself; more often, it comes in slow waves over a long period of time and is hard to recognize, even amongst the initiated.  Addiction doesn’t look or act any certain way; it can happen to any one of us for any reason. 

 

That’s why it’s so important to reach out to friends and family members right now, particularly with the Delta variant of COVID-19 emerging on the scene.  Isolation breeds addiction, and without a strong support group, addicts are likely to succumb to their disease.

 

Governments can play a part in the solution of shoring up the scourge of addiction in our country, but my experience tells me that the personal solution – one of the individual’s journey – is more effective than a government-led approach. 

 

Alcoholics Anonymous is a great organization for anyone who deals with addiction, and more information can be found at www.aa.org.  There’s even a mobile app for the more tech-savvy folks who may need additional help; download “In the Rooms” to find a list of virtual and physical meetings in your area. 

 

Remember, the pandemic’s toll goes well beyond the sickness of COVID-19 and has implications for loved ones, particularly those struggling with addiction.  The best thing you can do for friends and family members is to show mercy and love, and direct them to resources such as AA that are professionally equipped to help. 

 

Let us all ask for wisdom in dealing with those closest to us, requesting serenity “to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” 

 

In state where labor force participation is low, Reeves & Gunn are right on unemployment

*Appeared in the Laurel Leader Call newspaper  

Gov. Reeves recently announced he would be ending the state’s participation in extra federal unemployment benefits, saying that Mississippi no longer has a need to opt into programs like the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance which Congress passed last year to alleviate the impact of job losses due to COVID-19.  

 

In a letter, Speaker Philip Gunn had urged the Governor to end the program, stating that “small businesspeople…inform us their businesses are at risk.  They report that they cannot get employees to return to work because they can earn more from combined federal and state unemployment benefits than their normal wages.”

 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which measures wages, the mean hourly wage in Mississippi as of May 2020 was $20.00.  This means an individual working 40 hours per week will earn, on average, about $800.  Compare that to what an individual can currently earn by claiming unemployment – a maximum of $235.00 per week plus another $300.00 in the extra federal pandemic stipend for a total of $535.00 per week.  While this amount is roughly 33 percent less than what an individual can earn from working, it does represent a significant increase over “normal” unemployment benefits – an increase of more than 128 percent.

 

That means unemployment benefits, when including the federal supplement, have more than doubled for recipients.  Economics teaches us that this type of increase has an impact on human behavior.

 

It reminds me of what my old economics professor at Vanderbilt used to say…a lot. He’d always talk about “incentive alignment,” and while his examples were not usually unemployment-related, the same concept remains true here.  If individuals can earn nearly as much by filing unemployment as they can by working a job, then some (not all) will be incentivized to choose the former approach.

 

That’s particularly troubling in a state like Mississippi, where the labor force participation rate has lagged behind the nation for decades.  As of March 2021, the state’s labor force participation rate (meaning the number of people in the workforce, including those with jobs and those actively looking for jobs) was 56.1 percent, according to the BLS.  The U.S. rate stood at 61.5 percent for the same time period. 

 

When I was worked for former Gov. Haley Barbour, I led a project on the state’s labor force participation rate.  We commissioned a study from the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research to delve into why Mississippi’s workforce lagged behind our neighbors and the nation.  While the study is now about a decade old, many observations remain poignant today. 

 

“Labor force participation is a key social indicator because the economic performance of a state and the well-being of its residents are closely tied to labor force outcomes. Together, the labor force participation rate (LFPR) and the unemployment rate are of paramount concern to state governments because living standards and consumption are so closely tied to work and earnings from employment,” the paper began. 

 

It studied many reasons why individuals dropped out of the workforce and ultimately concluded that contributing factors were Mississippians living in non-metropolitan areas, Mississippi having a higher percentage of residents who had not completed high school and having a lower percentage of residents who had a college degree, and – you guessed it – the incidence of government income transfers, such as Social Security benefits and unemployment benefits. 

 

I am not an opponent of the state’s unemployment insurance program.  I believe it can and does serve an important societal purpose as a temporary stop-gap for those individuals who lost jobs through no fault of their own and are actively seeking other employment.  However, this program was never designed to be a permanent income solution and, with misaligned incentives, can do more harm than good to the state’s economy.

 

Like our state itself, Mississippi’s labor force market is complicated.  There are many reasons for low workforce participation, and it would be overly simplistic to say people aren’t searching for jobs just because they’re getting bloated benefit checks.  But policymakers must not ignore proven economic theories about the impact of government income transfers on labor force participation.

 

And…that’s a long, wonky way of me saying that I ultimately agree with both Gov. Reeves and Speaker Gunn in their opposition to extra federal benefit checks for the unemployed.