Comment & Response B To the Editor b In their study of fatal drug overdoses in the US from 1999 to 2020 by race and ethnicity (American Indian or Alaskan Native, Black, Hispanic or Latino, and White), Friedman and Hansen[1] report that overdose deaths had risen for all groups since 1999, but grew more rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors did not examine overdose mortality by sex, which would have revealed different trends for male and female individuals.