Record number of Kentuckians died from drug overdoses in 2021, new report shows
A record number of Kentuckians died last year from drug overdoses, a new state report says.
Fatal overdosing killed 2,250 people in 2021 — a 14.5% increase from the 1,964 deaths in 2020, previously the highest year on record, according to the state Office of Drug Control Policy’s 2021 report released Monday.
While that’s considerably lower than the increase from 2019 to 2020, when the state’s rate of fatal overdoses ballooned by 49%, it still marks the third consecutive year of rising overdoses. Overdose deaths have risen for seven out of the last eight years, and COVID-19 only worsened the state’s drug crisis. From April 2020 to April 2021, Kentucky’s fatal overdose rate per population was the fourth highest in the nation.
Last year, 90% of all overdose deaths involved opioids, according to the report. Often people who die of an overdose have more than one drug in their system. Fentanyl, among the most lethal of fully synthetic opioids, has long driven the state’s increase in deaths, and 2021 was no different. Autopsies performed by the state’s Office of the State Medical Examiner, along with toxicology reports submitted by local coroners, show that 73% of all overdose deaths last year involved fentanyl — a 16% increase from 2020, according to the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet’s report. Methamphetamine was present in 48% of all overdose deaths — a 33% increase from last year.
Most of the people who died of an overdose last year were between the ages of 35 and 44, and most lived in rural parts of the state. Four of the five counties with the highest rates of drug overdose deaths were in Eastern Kentucky — Estill, Perry, Rowan and Knott counties — and the fifth, Gallatin County, is in northern Kentucky.
“Addiction remains one of the most critical public health and safety issues facing the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” the report reads.
Van Ingram, executive director for the Office of Drug Control Policy, said the agency’s “focus over this next year will be on increasing access to clinical care for those suffering from addiction and offering more harm reduction measures.”
What’s being done to battle the crisis?
Kentucky has a long history with opioid addiction, but its financial response, at least in recent years, has been robust. In the last decade, the state has received hundreds of millions of dollars to stem the flow of opioids, support those in active addiction and help rehabilitate communities and individuals affected by the drug crisis. Nonetheless, the rate of fatal overdoses has continued to climb.
In 2019, University of Kentucky was awarded roughly $90 million to participate in a HEALing Communities study that endeavors to lower overdose rates by 40% across 16 counties and create a road map for other communities adopt those same methods. Part of that effort includes mass distribution of Narcan, or naloxone, a nasal spray that immediately reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. At least 500 have so far been distributed, according to Gov. Andy Beshear’s office.
This year, alone, Ingram estimates his office will have doled out more than $69 million in grant money statewide to aid recovery programs, treatment services and job training.
Kentucky has taken other steps to help reduce stigma often associated with substance use disorder. In 2020, the state launched the Kentucky Transformational Employment Program to help employers respond to addiction and support employees in active recovery to get and retain jobs. In the last two years, the state has received close to $10 million to support parents and pregnant people in addiction and recovery and to lower the rate of babies born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, which occurs when an infant is exposed to drugs in utero.
Last session of the General Assembly, Beshear signed into law a bi-partisan bill to create the Advisory Council for Recovery Ready Communities, aimed at helping individual cities and towns set up a network of substance use disorder support programs and ensure a pathway to employment for those in addiction.
If you or someone you know with substance use disorder is looking for help, call the Kentucky Help Call Center at 833-8KY-HELP (833-859-4357) to speak directly to a specialist who can connect you to treatment options. You can also visit www.findhelpnow.org/ky.
This story was originally published June 13, 2022 at 5:27 PM.
