CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — As the end of 2021 moves closer, the DuPage County coroner said it’s looking more and more as if there will be just about as many opioid-related overdose deaths as last year.
“We’re not making any positive strides yet,” DuPage County Coroner Dr. Richard Jorgensen told WBBM Newsradio.
Jorgensen said fentanyl continues to overtake heroin as the opioid that’s doing so much destruction.
He said DuPage County is on pace to have about 112 opioid overdose deaths in 2021, the same amount as last year.
The coroner said most users can’t be sure of what they’re putting in their bodies, that fentanyl is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine.
Jorgensen said Narcan or naloxone does work to counter fentanyl just as it does a heroin overdose.
“The problem is that we’ve had people respond to people who were overdosing and they’ve had to use four or five doses of the pre-packaged Narcan or naloxone,” he said.
First responders in DuPage County have been carrying naloxone with them for more than seven years.
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