New research from West Virginia University shows that drinking alcohol while using drugs like fentanyl may help explain why more men than women die from accidental drug overdoses. The study, led by Zheng Dai from WVU’s Health Affairs Institute, looked at overdose deaths in West Virginia. He pointed out that even though men and women use illegal drugs at about the same rate, men are dying much more often from overdoses. One reason may be that men tend to drink more alcohol than women—and more often mix alcohol with other drugs. Interestingly, the study also found that during the COVID-19 pandemic, alcohol-related overdose deaths increased among women.