Fentanyl continues to wreak havoc in the state, with the drug playing a role in all eight accidental opioid overdose deaths among Vermonters in February.
At the same time, the deaths represent Vermont’s lowest monthly fatal overdose count in almost two years. It’s the lowest figure since June 2020, when six Vermonters accidentally overdosed, new data from the Vermont Department of Health shows.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that’s up to 100 times stronger than morphine, has dominated overdose deaths among Vermonters since 2016.
Last year, the drug was present in 93% of the fatal overdoses, or 196 of 210 deaths — a record yearly total for opioid overdose deaths deemed accidental or with an undetermined cause.
“The biggest factor right now is the prevalence of fentanyl in the drug supply,” health department Deputy Commissioner Kelly Dougherty said in an interview last month. “It's just so incredibly powerful and deadly, and it's just so prevalent.”
Public health experts and police officials have said that fentanyl is not only relatively inexpensive but also widely available. These factors have led illicit drug manufacturers to mix fentanyl with other substances — with or without the knowledge of users.
The health department’s mitigation efforts include working with local partners such as recovery centers to distribute “harm reduction packs,” which include Narcan, a brand of opioid overdose antidote, and fentanyl test strips. These test strips can show users if the drug they have on hand contains fentanyl.
Health officials and recovery professionals recognized a few months into the coronavirus pandemic that the surging opioid overdose deaths were closely tied to the health emergency, which upended people’s lives with fear, anxiety, depression, stress, isolation and loneliness.
These factors led some people to start using substances as a coping mechanism, and caused others who had stopped using to relapse.
After a year and a half of monthly overdose deaths in the double digits, what does February’s relatively low death toll mean? The toll this January was 22.
State health officials appear cautiously optimistic in interpreting the latest data, citing the ups and downs normally seen in the monthly figures.
The numbers are also preliminary, since some death certificates from this period have not yet been finalized.
“We are encouraged to see the decrease in overdose data from January to February 2022, however, we are unable to determine if this is a trend because the data can change significantly on a month-to-month basis,” Megan Trutor, the health department’s substance abuse information director, said on Tuesday.
When the data available so far in 2022 are taken together, the total 30 accidental overdose deaths in January and February still exceed comparable figures in the past three years.
There were 26 such deaths for the same period in 2019; 21 deaths in 2020; and 25 last year, according to the health department’s annual data briefs.
Lila Bennett, director of the Journey to Recovery Community Center in Newport, believes that at this point, the lower overdose death count in February is part of the normal data fluctuations. Her center serves Orleans County, where four residents fatally overdosed in January and no such deaths were recorded in February.
“I would love to say that we've turned a corner,” Bennett said, “however, I think we have a lot of work to do.”
She mentioned, for instance, efforts to fight the stigma against substance use disorder and helping users understand that recovery is possible and that support programs are in place.
“Even just helping people understand that, especially with fentanyl, where the addiction has such a grip and it's really hard to see your way through it,” Bennett said.
