The St. Joseph County Drug Investigation Unit recently arrested a drug dealer linked to four overdose deaths. Among other drugs like heroin, investigators found 100 grams of pure fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, in the man’s possession.
With fentanyl’s potency, it was enough to kill everyone in the county twice, said Dave Wells, commander of the DIU.
The number of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids, which can be manufactured in smaller, more concentrated quantities that only takes a small amount to be lethal, is drastically increasing across the county. Whether used in its pure form or mixed with other drugs, it’s the prevalence of synthetic opioids that experts believe is behind overdose deaths totals for 2017 hitting record highs.
Drug overdose deaths in Indiana in 2017 were not only the highest they have ever been, but the state also saw one of the biggest increases in the country from the previous year. This is according to new preliminary data released this month by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Roughly 1,840 people died of an overdose in the state last year, an 18 percent increase over 2016 and a 37 percent increase over 2015. In the United States, about 72,000 died of overdoses last year, a 10 percent increase from 2016.
Indiana, along with Ohio, West Virginia and New Jersey, saw some of the biggest spikes. While the 2017 totals include deaths from all types of drugs, a vast majority of the overdoses were caused by opioids.
Some states did see decreases in overdose deaths, but there were very few, showing the opioid epidemic has yet to slow down for a majority of the country as synthetic drugs fuel the crisis. In the U.S., there was a 31 percent increase in 2017 in the number of overdose deaths that involved a synthetic opioid. Indiana and St. Joseph County were no exception to the trend.