Drug deaths in Berrien County have been rising in recent years, and it’s largely due to fentanyl.
That’s according to Dr. Joyce deJong with Western Michigan University. She serves as the Berrien County Medical Examiner, and she gave a report to the Berrien County Board of Commissioners this week. DeJong said the latest numbers are troubling.
“We did notice a really significant increase in drug-related fatalities,” deJong said. “If you’re just looking at accidental drug overdoses, drug-related fatalities have jumped from 36 in 2021 to 50 in 2022. So, a fairly large increase there.”
DeJong said fentanyl is now a serious public health issue that seems to mostly affect those in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, although she did note one fatality was someone in their 70s, and another was 15.
Of the drug deaths, 43 had some kind of fentanyl in their system.
DeJong said the way to address the fentanyl issue is to focus on prevention and treatment, saying “I don’t think we’re going to arrest our way out of this.” She noted even when someone with a drug problem goes to jail, they get out and then start using again, only now with a lower tolerance.
Commission Chair Mac Elliott said county leaders will keep this in mind when planning to use more than $4 million the county is receiving in opioid settlement money over the next 18 years.
