Zombie nation

Cheap synthetic opioid — fentanyl — flooding US street drug supply is dragging down life expectancy, turning US cities into Zombielands and killing 1,500 people a week

The US is in the midst of a catastrophic fentanyl epidemic that is causing an eye-watering number of deaths and tearing the fabric of American society apart.
The ultra-strong opioid being cut with virtually every street drug in the country killed a record 75,000 Americans in 2021, the equivalent of 1,500 lives lost every week.  
The extreme potency of the drug has made it popular as an illicit street drug. Fentanyl has now infected almost every major city in US, turning once-thriving streets in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia into wastelands. Scenes of zombified addicts shooting up or smoking the drug in front of children are increasingly becoming a part of everyday life.  
It takes just a small dose of fentanyl to cause an overdose. Just two milligrams — the equivalent of five grains of salt — is enough to cause death.
Experts have described the drop in life expectancy from 78.8 in 2019 to 76.4 in 2021 as ‘dramatic’ and ‘substantial’.
Officials in Washington state say they run out of space in morgues and crematoriums as the drug tears through local communities.