LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Fentanyl continues to claim lives in Clark County, and now the coroner says there’s an alarming trend of people seeking the drug out.
“It used to be that the drugs were just adulterated with it, so you had methamphetamine that was crossed with fentanyl, you had pressed pills with fentanyl in them. Now what we’re seeing is there’s actually that drug of choice is fentanyl,” Clark County Coroner Melanie Rouse says.
Rouse says they are hearing this directly from the friends and family of the person who overdosed.
Although it’s not new, a stronger type of fentanyl called “carfentanil” has recently hit the valley’s streets.
“We saw one case back in March. Since that case back in March came about, I know that we’ve had an additional 12 cases on top of that, so we’re starting to see that more in our community,” Rouse says.
So far in 2024, there have been 311 deaths where Fentanyl is listed as contributory, and 14 deaths involving carfentanil, according to data from the coroner.
There are pockets in the community that see a high number of overdoses.
Data from the Clark County’s Regional Opioid Task Force from October 2023 to March 2024 shows the top five zip codes for overdoses are:
- 89101
- 89104
- 89109
- 89121
- 89119
These aren’t based on where the death happened, but from where the original location of the overdose was.
“We’re in the middle of the medical district where people get transported to hospitals, then we’re going to see a higher proportion of deaths from drugs in those locations. What we really need to look at is the location of where the person was found,” Rouse says.
She says they’re going to use this data to help decide where they put certain resources, like narcan distributions.
This is one example of what the Task Force is set out to do, which is to evaluate overdoses in the county, look for gaps in resources, and come up with ways to prevent them in the future.
The Task Force is expected to issue a final report with their findings in November 2024. For a link to their dashboard of resources, click here.
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