Three years since the Opioid Epidemic Act passed in Arizona, drug-related deaths continue.
A new report released by the Arizona Public Health Association shows that despite the act’s intention of slowing the state’s opioid crisis, deaths have continued to increase.
According to the report: "Provisional data from CDC/NCHS and a CDC Health Alert on Dec. [17], 2020 for the 12-month periods ending June 2019 and June 2020 indicated an estimated 27% increase in opioid overdose deaths in the US, but a 43% increase in Arizona over those two time periods. It was also noted that the recent acceleration in drug overdose deaths began in 2019 prior to the pandemic and continued into 2020."
The association’s director Will Humble says the biggest problem is fentanyl.
“We have seen some decline or at least leveling off in deaths from prescription opioids, but we see this huge spike in deaths from fentanyl," Humble said.
Humble also said the higher fentanyl use is disturbing because the slightest miscalculation in dosage could be fatal.
