Overdose deaths elevated practically 33% in Oregon last year compared to the year before, setting a grim new file that reveals the state’s overdose disaster is way from over.
“Oregon’s overdose disaster has affected each group throughout the state, and the extremely delicate and traumatic nature of those occasions has brought on hurt, trauma and loss that affect the well-being of everybody,” stated Liz McCarthy, an Oregon Health Authority epidemiologist, in a press release.
McCarthy’s company launched the finalized overdose data for 2023 on Thursday, promising to launch information for 2024 “as quickly as it’s obtainable.”
The latest numbers present 1,833 folks died in Oregon from a drug overdose final yr, in comparison with 1,383 in 2022, 1,189 in 2021, 824 in 2020 and 626 in 2019.
That implies that practically 3 times as many individuals died of overdoses in Oregon final yr than did 4 years earlier. It additionally implies that the rise in overdose deaths isn’t even slowing down. In 2022, overdose deaths elevated solely 16% in comparison with 2021. That’s about half of the share level enhance in deaths from 2022 to 2023.
Synthetic opioids — fentanyl — and stimulants account for the overwhelming majority of overdose deaths, state figures present. Just over half of all unintentional overdose deaths in Oregon this yr concerned each opioids and stimulants, the Oregon Health Authority stated.
— Fedor Zarkhin is a breaking information and enterprise reporter. Do you might have a narrative? Reach him by cellphone or textual content at 971-373-2905 or by electronic mail at fzarkhin@oregonian.com.
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