DENVER (KDVR) — Over half of the U.S. is seeing an increase in fentanyl deaths in 2023, and Colorado is among those states.
Families Against Fentanyl analyzed the newest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which revealed that overdose deaths are at an all-time high. The most recent data was collected from April 2022 to April 2023.
The national average for fentanyl deaths in 2023 so far is 77,415 people, which went up by 5% from 2022.
In the U.S., 22 states ranked above the national average for an increase in fentanyl deaths. Some of the highest increases happened in Oregon, with a 67% increase, and Washington with a 65% increase.
States that saw an increase in fentanyl deaths in 2023:
- Oregon: 67%
- Washington: 65%
- Nevada: 58%
- Oklahoma: 55%
- Wyoming: 41%
- Texas: 28%
- Hawaii: 27%
- Alabama: 27%
- Utah: 21%
- Vermont: 19%
- Delaware: 19%
- Alaska: 17%
- Maine: 16%
- Kansas: 16%
- Georgia: 13%
- Minnesota: 13%
- California: 10%
- Idaho: 9%
- West Virginia: 9%
- Montana: 7%
- South Carolina: 7%
- New York: 6%
- New Hampshire: 4%
- Virginia: 4%
- Missouri: 4%
- Tennessee: 3%
- Arizona: 3%
- Michigan: 3%
- Kentucky: 2%
- Massachusetts: 1%
- Colorado: 1%
Colorado ranked below the national average by increasing by only 1%, but it was still one of the 31 states that increased in overdoses this year.
While 1% doesn’t seem like a lot, Colorado ranked 24th for the most fentanyl deaths this year with 1,057 fatalities.
This comes after FAF’s finding in 2021 that fentanyl was the number one cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 45. This trend has continued into 2023.
