County to start overdose fatality review team to combat overdoses

The opioid epidemic has hit our community, Specifically, fentanyl , a lethal drug that has made it’s may into our schools and our homes.

Yuma County has seen more than 170 opioid-related overdoses since June 2017. Since 2018, the Yuma County Sherrif’s Medical Examiner’s officer said there were close to 60 deaths across the county. A dozen between the two years has been tied to fentanyl .

The county is in the beginning stages of creating an overdose fatality review team to try to prevent more overdoses from happening.

In 2018, there were 30 fentanyl-related deaths in the State of Arizona.

That’s of the almost 14,000 opioid-related deaths in the state.

Yuma County has also seen dozens of overdoses in the last two years.

The county’s overdose fatality team hopes to change that.

” You’re going to look at where these overdoses are happening. Are there some hot spots? Are they happening in certain areas? Are there certain age groups that are more susceptible to these overdoses? What are some of the combination of drugs that are happening? ” said Ryan Butcher, Yuma County Health Department.
So far this year, 30 percent of all fentanyl-related overdoses in Arizona have been fatal.

The Arizona Department of Health Services says 24 to 34-year-olds are the biggest victims of the fatal drug.

Local law enforcement agencies are also educating students about the dangers of the drug after leading to several overdoses at school.