FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) – For the last four years, deaths caused by drug overdoses have been increasing. Currently, they’ve reached a record high as fentanyl and methamphetamine continue to spread across Alaska.

Prior to 2018, drug overdose deaths had remained relatively stagnant in the last frontier. Those deaths actually decreased to near double digit number in 2018. However, drug attributed deaths have since been climbing and 2023 saw an increase of 110 deaths compared to 2022.

“Between 2014 and 2023, 1,757 drug overdose deaths have occurred in Alaska.” That’s according to the 2023 Drug Overdose Mortality Update released by the Alaska Dept. of Health. The report goes over the race, age, location, and ethnicity of those that died from drug use as well as which drugs have been most prevalent in those fatalities.

Most of these drug overdose deaths are the result of unintentional overdoses with only 7% being attributed to suicides. This in part due to the increasing lethality of street drugs that often contain fentanyl.

The increasing lethality of street drugs does play a part in the increase of overdose deaths as that figure rose 44.5% between 2022 and 2023 reaching a record high of 357 deaths. That figure has increased drug related deaths in the state to an average of nearly 50 people per 100,000.

Men made up a majority of all cases but women still accounted for nearly 37% of all cases.

Breaking the numbers down by race, white Alaskans saw the highest total of drug related deaths in 2023 at 170. That number has been relatively high since 2020 when it nearly doubled from just 77. Despite the number for this demographic being the highest, the rate of drug attributed death remains relatively low at 34.2 people per 100,000. Comparatively, Alaska Natives and American Indians had the highest rate and the second highest to for 2023 at 114 per 100,00 and 119 in total. Those figures marking a major jump from just 82 deaths in 2022.

Mixed race, black and Hispanic Alaskans also had number in the double digits in 2023 with all three showing steady increases over the years. Asian and Pacific Islanders retained single digit figures however.

Breaking down the data by age, it was middle aged and older adults that saw the highest numbers in 2023 as well as year prior. 35-44-year-olds had the highest total at 115 with a rate of 110 per 100,000. This was the only group with triple digit numbers as the next highest totals were 75 and 67 pertaining to 25-34-year-olds and 45-54-year-olds respectively. Seniors and youth consistently had the lowest numbers.

These increase have been seen in nearly every region of the state with the exception of the North Slope and the Southwest. The growing number of drug related deaths is mostly coming out of Anchorage however. There the number of drug overdose deaths increased over 300% in just four years. In 2019 they had just 57 drug related deaths and in 2023 that had increased to 230.

Opioids remain the biggest perpetrator of these deaths causing 286 of the 357 drug overdose deaths in 2023. 265 of those being tied to fentanyl.

Methamphetamine was another common factor attributed to 193 deaths.

While those combined numbers surpass the total of 357, that’s because many of the overdose deaths were attributed to at least two substances and quite a few also attributed to just one substance.

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The contenders for this year’s Fat Bear Week were not revealed Monday as planned, after a skirmish between two Alaskan grizzlies in Katmai National Park led to the death of one of the animals. Their fight was captured on a livestream run by the multimedia organization Explore.org, which partners with the National Park Service to host the annual bear competition and shares video online for fans to follow along and vote.

“Earlier today, a bear killed another bear on the river. It was caught live on the webcams and we thought, well, we can’t go ahead with our Fat Bear Week bracket reveal without addressing this situation first,” said Mike Fritz, the resident naturalist at Explore.org, in a conversation on Monday’s livestream held in place of the scheduled unveiling. The 2024 Fat Bear Week bracket reveal has been postponed until Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.

The fight between a male brown bear and an older female — one of the contestants last year known as Bear 402 — unfolded at the mouth of the Brooks River in Katmai, a protected area on the Alaskan peninsula that draws some of the region’s largest grizzlies to feed on sockeye salmon, according to the National Park Service. The bears are currently hunting the end of the seasonal salmon run as they prepare to enter hibernation during the coming winter months.

“National parks like Katmai protect not only the wonders of nature, but also the harsh realities,” the National Park Service’s Matt Johnson said in a statement obtained by KTUU after Bear 402 was killed. “Each bear seen on the webcams is competing with others to survive.”

Fritz said the bear’s death, and what led up to it, was difficult to watch. He and Sarah Bruce, a park ranger at Katmai, discussed the circumstances that could have precipitated the fight between 402 and the male bear, 469, which they agreed was too drawn out for an ordinary confrontation over food.

“We do know at this time of year that bears are in that state of hyperphagia, and they are eating anything and everything they can,” Bruce said. “I don’t know why a bear would want to expend so much energy trying to kill another bear as a food source. It’s an uncommon thing to see a bear predating on another bear, but it’s not completely out of the question. So it’s hard to say how this started.”

Hyperphagia is the bears’ winter preparation process, where they spend almost all of their time eating and drinking to bulk up before retreating into their dens. Surviving hibernation depends on how much they can eat during this phase of the year, wildlife officials say.

Fat Bear Week is billed by the National Park Service as “a celebration” of their success as hibernation approaches. Cameras track a roster of massive grizzlies that call Katmai home as viewers watch and vote for their favorites, which then advance through several rounds until a winner is crowned. As lighthearted as the event can be, Fritz said what happened Monday was a reminder of the threats these bears often encounter in the wild.

“We love to celebrate the success of bears with full stomachs and ample body fat,” said Fritz. “But the ferocity of bears is real, the risks that they face are real, their lives can be hard and their deaths can be painful.”

Fritz said Bear 402 was “beloved.” The animal likely died by drowning, he added.

Before last weekend, William Coumbe had never set foot in the Last Frontier. But, he had a bucket list to complete. He was 49 for 50 of not only visiting, but running a marathon, in every U.S. state.

Coumbe raced in Kenai’s annual Kenai River Marathon Sunday and is now part of a small group of athletes to have run marathons in all 50 states. Coumbe says there are slightly less people who have been to outer space than have accomplished this milestone.

“I just checked a bucket list item, which is huge,” he said. “If you can check an item off your bucket list before you expire, that’s huge, and I did that half an hour ago.”

Coumbe’s marathon days began 20 years ago, when he worked for an insurance group in Philadelphia. He says company leadership helped interested employees sign up for marathons. At that point, Coumbe had already run a 10-miler and half marathon, so he decided to go all in.

Coumbe, now 55, has since participated in a number of notable races, including the prestigious Boston Marathon. He says he enjoys racing marathons around the country because it allows him and his wife to exercise while seeing new places.

The couple picked the Kenai River Marathon because it worked with their schedule. They also wanted a unique Alaska adventure.

“We really wanted to see a little bit more of Alaska than fly in, take a Lyft to a hotel, walk around, just stay in the big city,” Coumbe said. “We wanted an Alaska experience, and I think we got it.”

Coumbe admits he didn’t exactly know what he was getting himself into when he agreed to come to Kenai. He researched the city and was fascinated by its history, specifically the 1797 Battle of Kenai when Dena’ina people attacked a Russian fort. He also didn’t know what weather or terrain to expect, so he packed for every possible scenario.

Coumbe says he’s thankful the marathon course was relatively flat and the rain held off.

“We know that it gets cold, but while it’s somewhat temperate, what a neat place. A neat place indeed,” Coumbe said.

Although he’s throwing in the hat for full scale marathons, Coumbe’s future plans are to run half marathons in countries around the world.

Until last weekend, Coumbe’s 50-state marathon goal was one of three things still on his bucket list. Still to be done? Smoke a cigar and drink a Cuba libre in Santiago, Cuba, and watch the Buffalo Sabres take home the Stanley Cup.