Lansing area drug overdose deaths fall for first time since 2017

LANSING — Overdose deaths from drugs fell by 9% last year in a five-county area including Lansing but were still the second-highest since 2017.

Sparrow Hospital released its annual drug report that examines deaths resulting from opioids, including heroin, fentanyl, stimulants, cocaine, amphetamine/methamphetamine, and ethanol, or alcohol for Ingham, Eaton, Ionia, Shiawassee and Isabella counties.

Deaths fell 209 in 2021 to 190 last year. The report found that deaths for most specific substances decreased. Opioid-related deaths for example decreased by 9%, heroin-related deaths decreased by 25%, fentanyl-related deaths decreased by 2%, and alcohol-related deaths decreased by 35%.

A vast majority of all drug-related deaths however — 76% — were due to two or more substances, while 82% involved at least one opioid.

Jerry Norris, founder and CEO of Lansing-based community organization The Fledge, said that the figures were mostly consistent with what they see in their work.

“It's good news that it's coming down, but there's a lot of variation in this data and the way people move around and what can happen from year to year,” Norris said. “It's a pretty high number, especially in Ingham County, to have nearly 150 people die of an overdose for something that should be preventable, something that should have never flooded our markets.

“I don't think we're out celebrating yet.”

Ingham County saw 137 of the drug-related deaths. All but six were ruled accidents. Five others were ruled suicides and one was undetermined. That's down from 151 deaths in 2021.

Eaton County had 17 drug-related deaths last year, down from 22 in 2021.

Norris said that the data reflects the cycles of drug abuse he’s seen in his work in the last decade or so − heroin use shifting to fentanyl, which is now shifting to party drugs such as cocaine. According to Sparrow, stimulant-related deaths increased by 17%, cocaine-related deaths increased by 35% and amphetamine/methamphetamine-related deaths increased by 6%.

Norris said that some of these shifting drug use demographics may increase awareness for drug abuse and lead to more individuals taking protective measures, such as carrying Narcan.

The day after Sparrow’s report was released, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Narcan, an opioid overdose reversal medication, for over-the-counter sale.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a statement that Narcan’s over-the-counter approval will “increase the number of locations where it’s available and help reduce opioid overdose deaths throughout the country.”

The FDA estimates that it may take several months before the medication becomes available over-the-counter as manufacturers switch to the new model.

According to the FDA, at least 101,000 fatal overdoses occurred between October 2021 and October 2022 primarily driven by synthetic opioids, which includes fentanyl.

Narcan has been available in Michigan with a pharmacist’s approval since 2016. But regardless, advocates say that the decision will save lives and increase access to the medication

Mike Karl, president of the homeless advocacy organization Cardboard Prophets, said that the move will help individuals better recover from addiction. Karl carries Narcan with him on the job and has witnessed several overdoses in recent years.

“Giving people access to things like this doesn't help them abuse more, and actually gives them an opportunity to work on their second chances,” he said. “And that's what's important, because we know that addiction doesn't change overnight.”

“And we need programs like I(Alcoholics Anonymous) and everything else that help people, but Narcan is another effort. It gives somebody their life back,” Karl added. “And I can't tell you how many times I've seen people change from a user to someone that helps change other people's lives that are actively using now.”

Norris said that he doesn’t anticipate a significant change in access on a local level but believes there could be changes on the federal level.

“I don't think there's going to be a large impact on our local community or in Michigan, but I do think it will on the federal level, and it might have an impact of being able to bring prices down for people that do have to pay for it,” Norris said.

Norris also advocated for other harm reduction measures including safe usage places and needle exchanges

“If you are going to use, there are safe ways to do it,” he said. “And sometimes people don't have another person that they can be around while they're using, they don't know what they're doing.”

“I would really like to see that destigmatized and becoming more accepted and more legal,” Norris added.

Each of the counties examined are also on track to receive significant settlements from a series of cases against opioid companies − Ingham is estimated to receive $7.4 million, Eaton $3.1 million, Ionia $1.6 million, Shiawassee $2.5 million and Isabella $1.9 million.

Contact Sheldon Krause at skrause@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter@sheldonjkrause.