Cook County saw record 2,000 fatal opioid overdoses last year, most linked to fentanyl

Cook County experienced a record number of opioid overdose deaths last year, the great majority of which involved fentanyl, the county medical examiner's office reported Tuesday.

According to the medical examiner, there were 2,000 fatal opioid overdoses in 2022, topping the previous record of 1,935 set in 2021.

More than 91% of those deaths - 1,825 of them - were linked to fentanyl, an opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, the medical examiner said.

Overdose deaths have spiked nationwide with the introduction of fentanyl into the illegal drug trade in recent years. According to National Institutes of Health data, fatal opioid overdoses nationally rose from 52,404 in 2015 to 106,669 in 2021. Those involving fentanyl increased from fewer than 10,000 in 2015 to more than 70,600 in 2021, the federal agency reported.

In Cook County, fatal opioid overdoses have risen steadily over the past eight years, from 676 in 2015 to nearly three times that number, 1,846, in 2020.

About 78% of the overdose victims last year were male, and about 70% of the deaths occurred in Chicago. Black people made up 56% of the victims, whites accounted for 29%, and Latinos accounted for just below 15%, medical examiner's data shows.

The age group most harmed were those 50 to 59 years old, which made up 27% of the deaths. Next were those 30 to 39 years old, followed by those 40 to 49 years old and 60 to 69 years old. Those under 30 years old accounted for less than 13% of the deaths.

The year's youngest opioid overdose victim was a 12-year-old boy from Chicago. The oldest was an 84-year-old woman from Chicago.

Overdose deaths have risen in most of the collar counties as well.

Earlier this year, DuPage County officials reported 150 overdose deaths occurred in 2022, 106 of them attributable to fentanyl. That's a 194% increase from the 51 opioid deaths reported in 2015 and 15% increase from 2020, according to data from the county coroner's office.

Coroner Dr. Richard Jorgensen attributed the spike to the influx of fentanyl and an increase in substance users taking multiple drugs.

"In the past few years these trends have accentuated," Jorgensen said in April. "The most important trend is that heroin is less commonly found, and fentanyl has become the major drug causing death."

In Lake County, officials recorded 105 fatal opioid overdoses last year, with 92 of them involving fentanyl, according to the county coroner's office. That's up from 50 opioid overdose deaths in 2018, with 35 involving fentanyl.

The trend continues in 2023. In the first four months of 2023, Lake County saw 43 opioid overdose deaths, 38 fentanyl-related. Even more troubling, officials said, is that in 27 of those cases, fentanyl was the only drug involved - a change from past years, when it was more often taken in combination less potent drugs.

Kane County health officials reported in January that opioid deaths there had doubled in the last decade, from 38 in 2011 to 77 in 2021. The county coroner's office later reported another large increase in 2022, with 104 opioid overdose deaths confirmed, 78 of them linked to fentanyl.

McHenry County was able to buck the trend in 2022, when the number of deadly opioid overdoses has fallen from 46 in 2020 to 32 last year, according to the county coroner's 2022 annual report. The number involving fentanyl dipped from 34 to 28, the report shows.