While the number of overdose deaths across the nation are leveling off, New York state numbers are steadily increasing. Officials have said more drugs are being laced with fentanyl and have become more deadly.
“The drugs are lethal. They’re highly effective. They really grab control of people, but fentanyl will kill you,” said Robert Kent, former general counsel for the White House office of national drug control policy.
As a self-proclaimed “harm reductionist,” Kent said the lack of support and urgency from state government around harm reduction programs is troubling.
“We’re in a crisis, people are dying, and it’s everybody,” he said. “It’s every kind. It cuts across every demographic. And there’s no urgency.”
According to the state’s office of addiction services and support, fentanyl related overdose deaths increased by more than 120% from 2018-2022. A similar trend is playing out in Monroe County. Opioid overdoses killed 346 people last year, an almost 14% increase from the year prior, when the county saw 293 fatal overdoses.