Cook County recorded the deadliest year for opioid overdoses in 2022, according to the medical examiner’s office, a record that’s unsurprising to advocates and public health officials who said this signals a need for more harm reduction strategies.
In 2022, there were 2,000 deaths, surpassing 1,935 deaths in 2021. The large majority of deaths involved fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.
Opioid overdose deaths in Cook County have steadily increased every year, according to a Tuesday news release from the medical examiner’s office. In 2015, they recorded 676 deaths.
This trend mirrors a national pattern of overdose deaths, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control. Opioid-involved overdose deaths rose from 21,089 in 2010 to 47,600 in 2017 and remained steady through 2019 until a sharp increase in 2020.
In 2022, there were more opioid-related overdose deaths in Chicago than there were homicides and traffic crash fatalities combined, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.
John Werning, executive director of the Chicago Recovery Alliance, said that local and national systems aren’t equipped to handle the needs of those who use drugs.
“We don’t provide good, robust services to people who use drugs in any capacity. So they continue to be pushed to the shadows where they will not get aid in the case of an overdose,” Werning said.
He said it’s a systemic problem in Chicago that continues to harm families, especially in marginalized communities where there’s a history of segregated resources. There’s also underlying issues such as lack of housing or stigma around drug use that affects whether people get help.
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The Chicago Recovery Alliance wants to increase the use of harm reduction strategies, public health practices that aim to reduce certain health and safety issues associated with drug use.
It’s not just about promoting treatment but also about giving people agency and autonomy, Werning said. One of their goals is to establish overdose prevention sites, where people can take pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of professionals or access resources, including treatment programs or social services.
The alliance is also working with state and local health departments on initiatives such as Narcan distribution, a lifesaving drug that reverses an opioid overdose.
Despite the increase this year, some at the CDPH are “cautiously optimistic” that the numbers are stabilizing due to the efforts of city and community programs. But as with illegal drug markets, they can be hard to predict.
“What tends to come next is more potent, more dangerous substances, right? And so when that continues to be the reality that we operate in, it’s hard to grapple with sort of how we think about predicting the future,” said Sarah Richardson , grants research specialist with CDPH’s Office of Substance Use.
Last year, the CDPH started a program to distribute free Narcan kits at all 81 city library branches. According to Richardson, about 9,000 kits have been distributed — a high number that indicates there’s demand for harm reduction strategies.
Earlier this month, former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” to discuss the city’s strategies in addressing the opioid crisis, mentioning the program distributing Narcan to libraries.
“I think the good news coming out of Chicago is that we’re really focused on harm reduction and treatment,” Lightfoot said on the program. “At the local level, what we have to focus on is how do we help these folks? We get them to turn their lives around.”
But despite scientific evidence on the benefits of such strategies, advocates and experts said there’s always pushback from the general public and politicians who don’t completely understand these practices, especially in Chicago.
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“For people who are not in this space, who kind of have been socialized in our world to understand people who use drugs as bad and drug use as bad, you know, you see a program handing out syringes or Narcan and the first sort of reaction is, ‘Well, you’re encouraging use,’ and that’s absolutely false,” Richardson said.
The goal is to meet people where they are, she said. CDPH has various programs such as the Opioid Response Team that focuses on areas of the city with the most overdose deaths and tries to connect people with health services. And last year, a 24/7 opioid treatment hotline launched to provide immediate access to medication-assisted recovery.
With all of these programs, Richardson said the focus is on personal interaction.
“Personal connection more than anything, sometimes is really what helps people understand things in a different way,” Richardson said.
Advocates and public health experts said they’ll continue to push for harm reduction strategies and educate the public about these issues.
People don’t stop using drugs all at once, Werner said. “It’s a process and it takes time and we want to keep people safe and alive.”
vla@chicagotribune.com
