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I'm just a data point, but I lost 12 friends before I was aged 20. This was in the rust belt during the 90s. The reasons ranged across the board: opioids, crack, alcohol, cancer, preventative health conditions, accidents, and suicides. I was always amazed that people didn't report on this kind of stuff back then. But, all of my friends were poor.

Its an incredible statistic, but even from my own upbringing in a white, middle-class suburb I can name a handful of people that have died that I've known, arguably matching that 1/25 statistic even long before it will come to maturity.

I think all of those deaths were OD's.

I had no idea it was that dire. Wow.