HARTFORD, Conn. — Fentanyl is responsible for most overdose deaths in Connecticut.
"We had 1,524 drug overdose deaths in 2021, 86% of those drug overdose deaths are linked to fentanyl," said Susan Logan, director of the injury and violence surveillance unit for the Department of Public Health.
The synthetic opioid is becoming more and more prevalent.
"It's getting into cocaine, it’s in heroin, we’re seeing it in crack cocaine," Logan said.
"From just Hartford alone we’ve seen a 471% increase in fentanyl seizures in the last two years," said Hartford Police Chief Jason Thody.
According to officials, it's getting into the United States easily.
"We think that 90% of fentanyl that comes from Mexico is coming straight through the ports of entry. It’s not being trafficked across un-bordered areas of the Mexican-U.S. line. The problem is we’re not catching it," said Senator Chris Murphy.
He just returned from a trip to Colombia and Mexico to try to get a better understanding of what the U.S. needs to do to try to stop drugs from getting into the country.
He said there have been $700-million put into new technology at the border to catch fentanyl, but only 10% of that money has been deployed so far.
"We’ve got to do a better job of finding and stopping fentanyl before it gets to the United States," Murphy said.
He's proposing for the rest of those funds to be used, and for an investment to be made into artificial intelligence to try to stop the drugs at the border.
While fentanyl used to mainly come into the U.S. straight from china, he said the majority is now coming from Mexico. However, the chemicals used to make it are still coming from China.
"The Biden administration and congress has to make clear to china that there are going to be consequences if they don’t cut down on the shipment of all of these precursor chemicals into Mexico," Murphy said.
Wednesday, Aug. 31 is International Overdose Awareness day, and there are several events happening around the state.
- The Connecticut Harm Reduction Alliance is holding a resource fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the park across from 557 Albany Avenue in Hartford.
- An event will be held at the State Capitol at noon. White flags will be placed on the front lawn to memorialize the lives lost to overdoses.
- A health and wellness fair and vigil will be held on the New Haven Green from noon to 4 p.m.
- The Litchfield County Opiate Task Force will hold a resource fair from 6 to 7 p.m. and a vigil from 7 to 8 p.m. at Coe Memorial Park.
Gaby Molina is a reporter and anchor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at mmolina@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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