CDC: Drug overdose deaths hit new record in 2022
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The United States hit a record high for drug overdose deaths in 2022, according to final data released this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The report confirms that nearly 108,000 people died from drug overdoses that year. Overdoses remain among the leading causes of death for adults, and fentanyl continues to drive the crisis.
Richard Pazder heads the Southwest Enforcement Team for the Michigan State Police. Covering nine counties across southwest Michigan, the task force goes after drug trafficking organizations and dealers bringing deadly drugs into our state. The group, compromised of state, local and federal law enforcement agencies, has existed since 1981.
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Pazder said deadly drugs are coming across the southwest border through Mexican drug cartels and smuggled into Michigan communities.
“What we’re doing is reduce the supply of the drugs on the street, bring the justice to people who are killing our citizens for profit,” Pazder said.
From January 2023 through today, there have been 199 fatal drug overdoses in southwest Michigan, Pazder said.
“We are still seeing crisis levels of narcotics in our communities,” Pazder said. “It is still driving extremely high levels of fatal drug overdoses.”
There have been 2,631 suspected fatal overdoses statewide over that same time period, according to the University of Michigan’s Injury Prevention Center.
“For many years now in southwest Michigan, we’ve continuously lost twice as many lives of fatal drug overdoses as we do to fatal car accidents,” Pazder said. “It’s been a problem in southwest Michigan for a long time, and it’s not surprising the problem is continuing to accelerate.”
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The record number of overdose deaths in 2022 was slightly higher than 2021, rising from 106,669 to 107,941 deaths. The CDC report also showed the overdose death rate was relatively stable between those two years, rising from 32.4 to 32.6 in 2022.
Narcan has helped revive overdose victims, and new programs have helped make it more available. But some fentanyl is being mixed with xylazine, a tranquilizer that does not respond to Narcan.
“That can complicate our efforts to revive someone suffering from a drug overdose,” Pazder said.
Another problem: People are taking fentanyl and they don’t even know it. Last August, a man was sentenced to at least five years in prison for giving cocaine to 21-year-old Christopher Kramer in Kent County. The cocaine was laced with fentanyl, leading to Kramer’s accidental death. Pazder said pills on the street that can look like Xanax or even ADHD medication can secretly be fentanyl.
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“We’ve heard estimates as many as seven in 10 of these pills contain lethal doses of fentanyl,” Pazder said.
He said there has never been a better time for people struggling with addiction to get help. Treatment centers, such as Southwest Michigan Behavioral Health, can find a way to help you even if you don’t have insurance, Pazder said.
“Everyone in the community except for the drug dealers that are putting these drugs on the street want to see you successful in your endeavor to get to a drug-free lifestyle,” Pazder said.
He emphasized that many people play a role in helping save lives, including parents educating kids about the danger of drugs, police taking opioids off the streets and treatment prevention specialists stopping the cycle of overdoses.
“It’s a problem that requires an all-hands-on-deck response,” Pazder said. “Everyone needs to do their part.”
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