PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. Aug. 31 is International Drug Overdose Awareness Day, and experts in the field of mental health are seeing a disturbing trend during this pandemic: drug overdose cases increasing at an alarming rate. Addiction specialist Dayry Hulkow, with Delphi Behavioral Health in Pembroke Pines, said reports of drug overdoses increased by 18 percent in March, 29 percent in April and 42 percent in May. Hulkow said the numbers reveal that even while the economy is reopening, people still feel the need to turn to drugs for relief. Also in todays health news, research shows that young adults who are obese could cut their death risk in half by losing weight, even if its a shift to being overweight, rather than obese. Researchers found that the shift from obese to overweight reduced mortality by 54 percent.