Fentanyl-related deaths remain stable in major cities

New data from major cities and expert findings show that fentanyl-related deaths will continue to plague the nation.

The office of New York City’s chief medical examiner confirmed to Fox News that drug overdoses currently account for 80% to 85% of accident deaths in the city — up from 60% in years past, the spokesman said.

The office said the powerful synthetic opioid, fentanyl, contributed to the robust growth.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents seized more than 1.2 million fentanyl pills between two December 29 arrests. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

Public health officials in Cook County, which encompasses Chicago, estimate that the total number of opioid overdose deaths will be more than 2,000 after pending toxicology tests are completed, exceeding 1,936 deaths in 2021.

“People say, ‘Well, I can’t imagine what it was like,’ and I tell them, ‘No, you can’t, because you don’t know until it happens to you,'” said Sandra Pippa.

Pippa’s son, Dorian, died in 2016 after unknowingly taking a drug laced with fentanyl. The day before his death, he was 29 years old.

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Pippa’s son struggled with addiction and became sober for a while.

“We lived in Westchester [New York] at the time, and he said he was going to town to see some friends,” Pippa said. “You know, he never came home.”

Her son was found unconscious in the toilet of the Metro-North train bound for their family home.

“I don’t understand how it happens, how it gets in and just gets thrown out into the street, how it happens,” the mother said. “It’s incredible, it’s terrible, and I just don’t understand what they’re going to do with it.”

Pippa’s son, Dorian, died in 2016 after unknowingly taking a drug laced with fentanyl. (Sandra Pippa)

Dorian Pippa’s death occurred before fentanyl trafficking was raging. Almost seven years after his death, researchers are increasingly gaining new knowledge about the drug, its analogues and new trends.

Dr. Nora Volkov, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, said: “Every year we see a significant increase in deaths from fentanyl, and this increase has accelerated during the COVID pandemic. We are seeing a decrease in overdose deaths. from heroin, from prescription opioids, but not from fentanyl.”

She continued: “Fentanyl is now distributed throughout the United States at lower prices than heroin, so drug traffickers are easy targets to sell instead of other products – so it’s almost like self-reproduction.”

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Volkov predicted that more fentanyl-containing drugs and fentanyl-related deaths would continue into 2023.

Some fentanyl-related deaths are described as “fentanyl poisoning” because the person may not have been aware of the presence of an opioid in advance when using psychoactive substances.

“If you think about it in terms of drug dealers, they want a product that is better than the one the other person is selling, so there is competition between them,” she said. “The way to get a product that might be more valuable is to combine it with xylazine because the duration and intensity of the opioid effects will be longer.”

Xylazine is a pharmaceutical drug used to calm animals and is widely known in the illegal drug market as a “sedative drug”.

These illegal pills containing fentanyl were seized by the Montana Highway Patrol. (Fox News)

Despite the bleak outlook for fentanyl, Volkov reminds others that recovery is possible.

“As addictive as fentanyl is, it can be cured and I really wish people would get that across to people,” she said. “If you are addicted to fentanyl or know someone who is addicted to fentanyl, I encourage them to get into treatment because it can save your life and the treatment works.”

Pippa has her own message.

“You have to talk to your kids, you have to tell them that they can never be sure of anything they get from another friend or friend of a friend,” she said.

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“Our grief is softened [and] we can still, you know, live our lives, and he is with us all the time, ”the mother continued, holding back her tears.