PORTLAND, Ore. — Tragic new data shows the number of people dying from overdoses has hit a record high. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated more than 100,000 people were killed from April of last year to this year -- that's the most ever over a 12-month period.
We are getting a better idea of how the Northwest plays into these 100,000 deadly overdoses. Oregon reported 940 overdose deaths in that time frame, which is a 45% increase from the same time period the year prior. Washington state reported more than 1,800 overdose deaths -- a nearly 36% increase from the same time period the year before.
"This number represents lost opportunities for folks to engage and receive evidence-based treatments and potentially have better outcomes," said Dr. Andy Mendenhall, Chief Medical Officer of Central City Concern, when asked about the tragic milestone. "It's important to remember that people with substance use disorder do get better, and, unfortunately, the majority of folks that are passing away frequently disengaged from treatment resources that could potentially lead to a much better outcome."
The CDC data shows there was one substance that played a big part in the problem. Many of the deaths involved fentanyl, which is a potent and deadly synthetic opioid that is often mixed in with other illegal drugs. Synthetic opioids, mostly fentanyl, caused about 64% of all deaths during the April 2020 - April 2021 time period.
Kasey Anderson, who works for the Alano Club of Portland and is a recovering addict himself, says this is still a nation that doesn't want to look at the magnitude of this problem.
"We're falling in raising awareness about the problem," said Anderson, the Director of Development for the Alano Club. "We're failing in widespread efforts to deliver supports and services to people who need them. We're failing in educating people about harm reduction measures. We're failing in making sure that people feel accepted by the recovery communities if they aren't completely abstinent."
Efforts are underway to provide more help. Oregonians overwhelmingly passed Measure 110 last November in order to get more funding to these clinics. The vote also decriminalized the possession of small amounts of some hard drugs.
Critics argue the vote took away a tool of punishment to curb drug use.
Supporters say we're ending a cycle of jail and drugs that led us to this point.
Recovery experts like Anderson said isolation and social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic ramped up this addiction crisis. He says it wasn't caused by the pandemic, it was an issue long before. But this addiction pandemic needs to be the next public health focus in order to break this deadly trend.
"As sad as this is, I think this will be the second pandemic in the wake of this pandemic," said Anderson. "It's going to be a behavioral health services pandemic. I think we are going to see the ripple effect from the last two years for several years to come."
When it comes to reversing the trend, other addiction recovery organizations talk about breaking the stigma, echoing the idea that addiction should be seen as a public health crisis and not a moral failing.
Tony Vezina, the Executive Director of the 4th Dimension Recovery, says the same systematic response that leaders had for the coronavirus pandemic needs to be applied to the substance use disorder pandemic.
"Every day on my phone, I get updates about cases, deaths, and presumptive cases. I don't have that same sort of update on my phone -- I can't go to any website and really see everything that's happening with the drug epidemic," said Vezina. "So, we need to have that same systemic response and urgency that we did with the COVID pandemic... or nothing is really going to change, or it's going to take a long time."
Vezina is also among those who are in recovery, he has been for more than nine years after an addiction to heroin. KATU News asked Vezina how he would encourage people to get clean after seeing such discouraging death statistics. He said there are people out there who will help, without judgment.
Vezina wants anyone who is struggling to reach out before it's too late.