Fentanyl Replaces Heroin as Leading Cause of Overdose Deaths in D.C.
Heroin is close to vanishing from the streets of the nation’s capital, with D.C.’s latest opioid overdose statistics showing that the drug was detected in only 15 of the 166 opioid deaths recorded in the first five months of 2022.
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While heroin is close to vanishing from the streets of the nation’s capital, with D.C.’s latest opioid overdose statistics showing that the drug was detected in only 15 of the 166 opioid deaths recorded in the first five months of 2022, it has now been almost completely replaced by the far more potent and deadly substance fentanyl, reports the Washington Post. With recent figures published by that state’s health officials, which cover the 12 months ending in April, showing that heroin was involved in far fewer deaths than fentanyl, and was less deadly than cocaine, alcohol and prescription opioids, experts say public health strategies should be tailored to opioid markets now occupied almost exclusively by the drug. Most of D.C.’s overdose deaths are among those aged 40 to 69, and 84 percent of victims since 2017 have been Black.
