FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) – Over the past four years, the number of drug overdose deaths has increased. Now, numbers are at an all-time high as fentanyl and methamphetamine continue to spread across Alaska.
Prior to 2018, drug overdose deaths were relatively stagnant on the final frontier. In fact, these deaths decreased to nearly double digits in 2018. However, since then, the number of drug-related deaths has increased, with 110 more deaths in 2023 compared to 2022.
“Between 2014 and 2023, there were 1,757 drug overdose deaths in Alaska,” according to the 2023 Drug Overdose Death Rate Update from the Alaska Department of Health. The report details the race, age, location and ethnicity of people who have died from drug use, as well as which drugs were most prevalent among those deaths.
Most of these drug overdose deaths are due to unintentional overdose, and only 7% are due to suicide. This is partly due to the increasingly deadly nature of street drugs, which often include fentanyl.
The increasing lethality of street drugs is certainly contributing to the rise in overdose deaths, with that figure increasing by 44.5% between 2022 and 2023 to a record high of 357 deaths. Reached. The numbers bring the state’s drug-related deaths to an average of nearly 50 per 100,000 people.
Although men accounted for the majority of all cases, women still accounted for almost 37% of all cases.
Breaking down the numbers by race, white Alaskans had the highest number of drug-related deaths in 2023, at 170. This number has remained relatively high since 2020, when it nearly doubled from just 77 people. Despite this group having the highest numbers, the mortality rate is relatively high compared to 2020. Drug deaths remain relatively low at 34.2 per 100,000 people. By comparison, Alaska Natives and American Indians had the highest rate and the second highest rate in 2023, at 114 per 100,000 people, or 119 total. These numbers represent a significant increase from just 82 deaths in 2022.
Mixed-race, black, and Hispanic Alaskans will also hit double digits in 2023, with all three showing steady increases over the years. However, Asian and Pacific Islanders remained in the single digits.
Looking at the data by age group, in 2023, as in the previous year, middle-aged and older people showed the highest numbers. Those aged 35 to 44 had the highest total of 115, with a rate of 110 per 100,000 people. The next most common groups were those aged 25 to 34 with 75 cases and those aged 45 to 54 with 67 cases, the only group with three-digit numbers. Older people and young people consistently had the lowest numbers.
These increases are seen in nearly every region of the state except the North Slope and Southwest. But most of the growing number of drug-related deaths are coming from Anchorage. There, drug overdose deaths increased by more than 300% in just four years. In 2019, there were only 57 drug-related deaths, which will rise to 230 in 2023.
Opioids remain the leading cause of these deaths, causing 286 of the 357 drug overdose deaths in 2023, 265 of which were related to fentanyl.
Methamphetamine was another common factor responsible for 193 deaths.
These total numbers total more than 357 because many overdose deaths are attributable to at least two substances, and a significant number are attributable to only one substance.
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