While the national trend is overall decreasing, fatal fentanyl overdoses continue to go up in Utah and unfortunately, northeastern Utah is leading the way. In August, the Utah Department of Health and Human Services issued a ‘Utah Health Status Update’ with fatal fentanyl overdoses among the topics covered. “Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid pain reliever up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine,” shares the update. “Many times, fentanyl is made to look like prescription drugs, which makes counterfeit drugs indistinguishable from authentic pharmaceutical drugs. Since 2020, most fentanyl-involved overdoses in Utah involve illegally manufactured fentanyl…Fentanyl-involved deaths increased 71.6% between 2021 and 2023 and 437% since 2019. This rise is due to the increase of illegally manufactured fentanyl in the Utah drug supply starting in 2020. Fentanyl accounted for 47.9% of all accidental and undetermined drug overdose deaths in Utah in 2023, surpassing methamphetamine. The fentanyl overdose death rate was highest in TriCounty Health District between 2021 and 2023. The rate in TriCounty, Weber-Morgan, and Salt Lake health districts are all significantly higher than the state rate.” To learn more about this deadly trend, visit www.dea.gov/factsheets/fentanyl.
