DEA report: Kentucky Ranks 5th in States Impacted by Drug Overdose Deaths
Four years ago in 2016, Kentucky was barely a blip in the National Drug Threat Assessment summary report released by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Yet, a year later in 2017, the Commonwealth ranked third in overdose deaths nationally behind West Virginia and New Hampshire.
The DEA releases the report annually, identifying drug trends from the previous year and projecting future threats and challenges. The 2019 report recently released indicates that Kentucky has again landed in the top 10 of states impacted by drug overdose deaths.
“Fentanyl has made its way into cocaine and methamphetamine, not to mention being disguised as Xanax or Percocet 30s. The entire illicit drug supply is tainted.”
“We first started seeing carfentanil in the last quarter of 2016 showing up in our overdose deaths,” said Van Ingram, executive director of Kentucky’s Office of Drug Control Policy. “In 2017 they exploded. That was our worst year (for overdose deaths). In 2018, we took a 15% decline – about 200 fewer deaths than the year before.”
That year wasn’t an anomaly for Kentucky, though. The DEA report indicates that in 2017 across the United States, “drug poisoning deaths reached their highest recorded level and, every year since 2011, have outnumbered deaths by firearms, motor vehicle crashes, suicide and homicide. In 2017, approximately 192 people died every day from drug poisoning.”
Carfentanil outbreaks in Kentucky regionalized in 2018, but by 2019, Ingram said there were hardly any overdose deaths related to the drug. However, by the DEA’s 2018 report, Kentucky ranked sixth with a death rate of 9.3 for overdose deaths related to heroin, fentanyl and semi-synthetic prescription pain medications.
“Fentanyl has made its way into cocaine and methamphetamine, not to mention being disguised as Xanax or Percocet 30s,” Ingram said. “The entire illicit drug supply is tainted.”
Also in the DEA’s 2018 report, the Commonwealth ranked 8th in the number of National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS) reports for heroin, fentanyl and combined hydrocodone and oxycodone. The NFLIS is a DEA program that systematically collects results of forensic analyses, and other related information, from local, regional and national entities.
“In Kentucky, we have decreased the amount of hydrocodone and oxycodone prescribed by about 100 million dosage units per year to where we are now,” Ingram said. “Although it is still a problem, it is nothing compared to what it was in 2011 and 2012 when we had a plethora of pill mills and over-prescribing was the norm.”
Another decline, Ingram noted, is in heroin deaths. While that sounds like a positive trend, it unfortunately is related to the continued impact of fentanyl, Ingram said.
Fentanyl is 10 times more powerful than heroin and, due to the miniscule weight of fentanyl it takes to match the high of heroin, it is much easier to conceal and transport.
“Before long we won’t have a heroin problem because the cartels are not going to fool with it,” Ingram said. “As long as they can get the chemicals they need from China and other countries to produce fentanyl, they are going to lead with that because financially, it makes more sense.”
With 1,566 deaths, the 2019 DEA report ranks Kentucky as 5th in states most impacted by drug overdoses in 2017. West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. succeeded Kentucky with the highest number of deaths per capita. Kentucky was listed as one of 29 states reporting fatalities caused by fentanyl-containing counterfeit pills.
“Fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, manufactured synthetic opioids, are our largest threat, followed by methamphetamine,” Ingram said.
While not listed within the DEA reports, methamphetamine has continued to plague the Commonwealth. Ingram said it is nothing like it was in the early 2000s when meth labs were pervasive, thanks to legislation placing Sudafed behind pharmacy counters. However, cartels are now flooding the U.S. and Kentucky with very cheap, very potent methamphetamine that isn’t homegrown in one-pot labs.
“What’s unusual is now we are seeing overdose deaths with meth and fentanyl,” Ingram added.
Mitigating these continued threats includes a dual approach of enforcement and treatment.
For investigative recommendations recently published by KLE magazine, click here.
For resources to direct citizens to treatment options, click here.
To hear from Gov. Andy Beshear about this topic, click here.
“We have much more substance abuse treatment available than we used to,” Ingram said. “Getting people motivated to get treatment is the key.”
