ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Drug overdose deaths in New Mexico in 2020 increased by 25% from the previous year, continuing a trend seen before the pandemic. The Albuquerque Journal reports that increased abuse of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl pumped up the number of overdose deaths to 721 in 2019, up from 574 in 2019. According to the Journal, the provisional numbers were gathered by the federal government and broken down by QuoteWizard, a division of LendingTree, according to the Journal. Fentanyl is an extremely potent opioid that is prescribed for legitimate medical uses but it also is smuggled into the United States from Mexico and often trafficked illegally.