Western U.S. Faces Spike in Illegally Manufactured Fentanyl Deaths

2023 to 2024 saw approximately sevenfold increase in overdose deaths involving carfentanil

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Dec. 5, 2024 (HealthDay News) — From 2022 to 2023, the percentage of overdose deaths involving illegally manufactured fentanyls (IMFs) increased in the Western United States, according to research published in the Dec. 5 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Lauren J. Tanz, Sc.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues describe trends in overdose deaths during January 2021 to June 2024 overall and with IMFs detected in 45 states and the District of Columbia (DC). The numbers of deaths with carfentanil detected during January 2023 to June 2024 were also reported in 49 states and DC.

The researchers found that from 2022 to 2023, there was a decrease in the number of overdose deaths with IMFs detected in the Northeast, Midwest, and South regions (3.2, 7.8, and 2.8 percent, respectively), while deaths in the West increased by 33.9 percent. In the Northeast, Midwest, and South, the percentage of deaths with IMFs detected was steady at about 70 to 80 percent; in the West, the percentage of deaths with IMFs detected increased from 48.5 to 66.5 percent from January-March 2021 to April-June 2024. There was an approximately sevenfold increase seen in overdose deaths with carfentanil from January-June 2023 to January-June 2024 (29 to 238, respectively).

“Educational and response efforts that can rapidly adapt to the potential for increased distribution of drugs more potent than fentanyl, such as carfentanil, are needed and might avert or mitigate new increases in overdose deaths,” the authors write.