DuPage coroner: Heroin deaths rise, but it could have been worse

The number of heroin-related deaths rose again last year in DuPage County, Coroner Richard Jorgensen said Thursday.

And the picture could have been significantly worse, he said, if not for the dozens of lives saved by first responders who administered Narcan to overdose victims.

With all of 2015's toxicology reports now submitted, Jorgensen said 43 deaths were attributed to heroin in DuPage, up 10 from the previous year.

Jorgensen said the uptick is a direct result of a new trend in which heroin is being tainted with the painkiller fentanyl, which is used as a large animal tranquilizer.

The drug also was believed to be connected to a string of 74 reported heroin overdose patients treated in 72 hours in late September in Chicago.

The presence of the painkiller in the heroin could have increased the drug's potency and caused users to overdose and stop breathing.

"The trend that we have seen is a rise in fentanyl alone and mixed with heroin," Jorgensen said. "Fentanyl is 100 times more powerful than morphine and up to 50 times more powerful than pure heroin. The dealers are mixing it in to boost the high."

A record 46 people died of heroin overdoses in DuPage in 2013, which triggered a large-scale education and prevention campaign in the county. The number of deaths dropped to 33 in 2014 before climbing again last year.

"Those fentanyl deaths cloud the numbers, but I believe we're making progress," Jorgensen said. "We're certainly not out of the woods, but we're making some headway by teaching and continuing to spread the word about this deadly drug."