Indiana drug overdoses continue to rise

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — U.S. drug overdose deaths rose in 2021 over 2020, though the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention says these numbers are preliminary could also be underreported.

Greater than 107,000 People died of drug overdoses final 12 months, setting one other tragic report within the nation’s escalating overdose epidemic, the CDC estimated Might 11.

Indiana overdose deaths rose by nearly 400, from about 2,300 in January 2020 to greater than 2,700 in December 2021, the CDC says.

Justin Phillips, govt director of the Indianapolis nonprofit Overdose Lifeline, says, “Overdose deaths are nonetheless drastically dangerous, Individuals are nonetheless dying unnecessarily each day.”

Phillips sees a purpose for optimism, although. Previous to the COVID-19 pandemic, overdose deaths of Hoosiers declined barely over a two years, from 1,808 in January 2018 to 1,752 in January 2020.

She mentioned, “We’ve come a good distance since 2015 after we handed a legislation permitting for individuals to have entry to Naloxone, however we nonetheless have stigma, we nonetheless have communities that don’t need us to have a NaloxBox,” a storage system for Naloxone. The drug can reverse overdoses from opioids. In 2021, Overdose Lifeline partnered with the Indiana governor’s workplace to position these kits in each county.

‘We have now distributed over 135,000 particular person overdose-reversal kits throughout the state of Indiana,” Phillips mentioned.

On Monday evening, the Indianapolis Metropolis-County Council will vote on a proposal to resume Marion County’s Protected Syringe program. This system began in 2019 as a strategy to discourage individuals from sharing needles, in an effort to scale back the unfold of ailments like hepatitis and HIV.